Video production and dissemination firm Levels Beyond has raised a $4.5 million Series A round from TVC Capital, a San Diego-based private equity firm. After six years of bootstrapping and an organically-grown customer base, Levels Beyond’s revenue and demands were outstrapping its available funding.
[ibimage==20724==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
According to CEO Art Raymond, Levels Beyond is the company that makes it possible for clients like the UFC to broadcast their video content easily and affordably across a variety of platforms. The company’s proprietary web-based Reach Engine lets users process and disseminate their videos on any channel from YouTube to Roku to XBox.
“Our software enables [clients] to deliver to 100 locations and they can look at every single distribution and look at the analytics...and actually analyze on the fly in real-time,” says Raymond. Customers can purchase Reach Engine use on a subscription or capital basis, making it possible for Levels Beyond to work with entities as large as UFC and those as small as individual content makers.
Raymond says the new funding will go toward building out the company’s sales force by acquiring partners and adding to its own roster. Currently, the 23-person team features 22 engineers and no dedicated salespeople. They are also focused on turning their tools into products for other verticals, such as the medical and retail industries, to help them with their video needs.
"We are, we believe, the leading new generation technology with probably the richest functional set to help people create and distribute in the market," Raymond says. According to him, offering personalized tools for various verticals and better functionality will help them further grow their client base.
Levels Beyond’s final area of focus is building out its cloud infrastructure. Currently, huge video events such as UFC fights cannot be broadcast directly via the cloud, so Levels Beyond built cloud proxies for them. Looking ahead, Raymond says he is looking forward to taking greater advantage of the cloud to make it even easier for his clients to distribute their video content.
Visit Levels Beyond's website, check out their BID profile, and follow them on Twitter at @levelsbeyond.