Virool, a San Francisco-based startup founded in 2011 by a Russian team, has announced that it raised $6.62 million from leading venture funds and business angels. The operation actually took place several months ago, two sources close to the deal told East-West Digital News, but was announced only last week.
A Y-Combinator graduate, Virool defines itself as “a self-serve social video advertising platform that allows anyone with a video to reach their desired target audience on Facebook, mobile phones and niche sites.”
Several well-known brands have already used the platform, including Samsung, VW, K-Swiss, Sony and Orbitz. Intel was a particularly big spender with a $300,000 campaign this past December, Techcrunch reported.
More modest advertisers may start a campaign for as little as $10, “targeting the exact individuals they would want to reach with their video,” according to the startup.
Since its launch in March 2012, Virool’s self-service platform has grown from 200 to 30,000 registered advertisers and has promoted 20,442 videos, the startup told Techcrunch. Its network today reaches close to 22 million people, across websites, blogs, Facebook games, and mobile applications.
The list of investors includes: Thomvest Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurveston, 500 Startups, Dominate Fund and Funders Club, as well as Phenomen Ventures, a $300-million Russian venture fund, Global Venture Alliance (GVA), a Moscow-based international investment company, and TMT Investments, a London-based fund backed by Russian businessmen.
Among individual investors are YC partners Paul Buchheit and Garry Tan, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter, and former Yahoo CTO Farzad Nazem, Techcrunch reports.
