Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the Austin Business Journal. It is republished here in an abbreviated format. Check out the full story [subscriber content].
Restream Inc., an Austin-based video-streaming startup that counts Deepak Chopra, Microsoft Corp. and the World Health Organization as customers, has closed a $50 million series A funding round.
California-based Sapphire Ventures and New York-based Insight Partners led the round. Sapphire Ventures Managing Partner Paul Levine and Insight Partners Managing Director Teddie Wardi will join the Restream board as part of the deal.
“We’ve worked very hard to get to this point and we’re very proud [of this raise],” Restream co-founder and CEO Alexander Khuda said.
All existing investors — which include Austin’s Silverton Partners, Anorak Ventures, Liquid 2, Colopl Next and Mana Ventures — participated in the round, he said. Investor demand surpassed the final tally of $50 million but Khuda said he and his team chose to cap the round at that level because they felt like it was sufficient capital.
Restream has now raised a total of roughly $55 million.
The $50 million round is one of the largest venture capital infusions for an Austin startup this year. Two larger rounds were both announced in June: biopharmaceutical company Shattuck Labs Inc. closed a $118 million series B round and OJO Labs Inc., a residential real estate artificial intelligence company, announced a $62.5 million series D round.
Large funding rounds backed by VC and private equity firms continue to flow into Austin companies this year, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. In the past couple of weeks, medical-device maker Aerin Medical Inc. closed a $48 million funding round and Icon Technology Inc. announced a $35 million series A round for its 3D printer for homes.
Khuda said some of the new capital will be used to launch its new product, Restream Studio, which will enable customers to live-stream throughout social media platforms as easily as one may host a Zoom virtual meeting. The new product also allows users to add overlays, logos and watermarks during the livestream, and it includes real-time chat and analytics.
“The goal is to help [small and medium-sized] businesses to produce high-quality video-streams and content, and make it as simple for businesses and organizations as making a video call,” Khuda said.
Launched in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2014 by Khuda and Chief Technology Officer Andrew Surzhynskyi, Restream moved its headquarters to Austin in 2015. The company maintains its office in Kyiv, where its technology and product teams work.
Read the rest of the story in the Austin Business Journal [subscriber content].
