Telstra Ventures has made an equity investment in US-based software-defined video (SDV) solutions provider Elemental Technologies.
The financing is part of a $14.5 million series D round of funding led by Telstra and joined by Sky in the UK, along with participation from existing Elemental’s investors, Telstra said in an announcement released last month.
Elemental helps media companies connect consumers with video content across multiple screens – including connected TVs, computers, tablets, smartphones, set-top, and other IP devices – using software-defined video solutions to ensure high quality, high definition viewing experiences.
Telstra Ventures managing partner Mark Sherman said Telstra's equity investment will soon be combined with a commercial agreement that is currently being negotiated to allow the company to integrate solutions from Elemental into the company's network.
"This will provide media and broadcast customers with access to an award-winning video solution for multi-screen content delivery, and offer flexibility and scalability to ensure a great customer experience," he said.
Sherman said Telstra also plan to use Elemental's solutions internally, across the telco’s large portfolio of media properties such as IPTV, Foxtel on T-Box, AFL, NRL, and BigPond movies to deliver high-quality video performance across a multitude of devices for customers.
He added that Telstra also intends to make Elemental cloud capability available to its media customers globally in virtual hosting facilities.
Elemental’s key multiscreen accounts include the BBC, Comcast, Foxtel, HBO, Media Prima, NHK, Telefónica, and TrueVisions.
The deal was announced on the same day Telstra revealed its $697 million acquisition of Pacnet, and is the company’s latest attempt to continually boost its cloud offering and capabilities. In early December, Telstra took a minority equity stake in Australian cloud-based business process guidance software solutions provider Panviva.
It also plans to launch cloud services for the Australian government, and host VMware's vCloud Air public platform in Australia from the first half of this year.