Video Conferencing Startup Vidyo Raises Another $17M, Bringing Total Funding To $116M

Video conferencing continues to catch on as a way for enterprises to do business, and is becoming increasingly important to certain verticals like healthcare and education. At the same time, video conferencing continues to be expensive to implement, especially for organizations which try to put in room-based systems. It’s that market video conferencing company Vidyo is trying to take on, with a lower-priced software solution to hardware-based incumbents.

And to do that, Vidyo has raised yet another round of funding, this time $17 million. That brings total funding since the company was founded in 2005 to $116 million, with the financing coming from inside and outside investors. Triangle Peak Partners was the lead new investor in the round, joining previous investors such as Juniper Networks, QuestMark Partners, Menlo Ventures, Rho Capital Partners, Star Ventures, and Four Rivers Group.

Vidyo’s year-over-year billings grew 68 percent in 2012, driven by strong enterprise sales, but also by rapid growth in a few important verticals. Sales were up 77 percent in both the healthcare and education verticals, and Vidyo expects more sales in those markets as time goes on. In fact, it just struck a deal with education consortium Internet2, which should help get its video conferencing software and equipment even more widely adopted in universities and partnering K-12 public schools throughout the U.S.

The idea behind Vidyo is not just to enable new organizations to build off of its video conferencing equipment, but also to allow them to use existing hardware to connect with others. Since its technology is software-based, it can enable customers to use Cisco, Polycom, and Lifesize, as well as other H.323 and SIP-based room systems, Microsoft Lync clients, and the iPhone, iPad, or other mobile devices to connect with one another. Earlier this year, it also rolled out a virtualized video conferencing product which will enable customers to turn up video conferencing on off-the-shelf equipment.

Vidyo has more than 250 employees now, with 13 offices around the world. It also has a bunch of patents — 26 issued and 56 pending — behind its video conferencing technology. With the new round of funding, it plans to continue growing its tech team and expanding worldwide.