Vbrick raises $20M to grow its video platform for livestreaming meetings

Herndon, Va.–based Vbrick raised $20 million to expand sales and marketing efforts around its video platform for enterprise companies, said CEO Shelly Heiden.

The funding was led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, and also included participation from existing investors Acme Nova and Adams Capital.

Vbrick launched its video platform in 2015 following a pivot from a focus on video encoders, which are a hardware product. Heiden, who previously led Plateau Networks‘ acquisition by SuccessFactors and later SAP, became CEO of the 20-year-old company in 2013. It moved headquarters to Herndon from Wallingford, Conn. (where it still maintains an office), to get access to technical talent in the D.C. area. The company now has about one-third of its 150 employees in Northern Virginia, many of which are technical roles. It has additional team members in Germany, France and the U.K.

The cloud platform is designed to be used by large businesses to livestream large briefings or other meetings by companies where workers are connecting via the network or remotely. Heiden said the most common use is an all-hands meeting, or any time “when CEOs want to add all of their employees live worldwide.” Additionally, it provides a platform to manage video content.

Among the features that make it uniquely suited for businesses are security and tools to distribute video on a network.

The company has added 300 businesses, aided by a partnership with Cisco that gives Vbrick a place on the list of products sold by the tech giant and partners worldwide.

After calling the pivot complete, the company has an 80-20 revenue split between software and hardware. It used to be the reverse. The software platform posted 96 percent growth in 2017, and Heiden said the company is looking to expand sales and marketing staff with the new funding. She expects about 20-25 hires across locations. The company will also continue to develop the platform.

“The Rev platform’s unparalleled ease in enabling live video streaming and rapid access to video content is fulfilling an unmet need in the market place for enterprise video,” Pete Chung, the head of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, said in a statement.