Global video asset management firm KIT digital has acquired a trio of companies--KickApps, Kewego and social video platform Kyte--for $77.2 million, the company announced today. KIT says the deal will enhance its existing business while "growing market share across geographies and client verticals."KIT said the three companies bring different tools to the table, but in general will alow it to advance its business roadmap by up to 18 months:
- KickApps gives it access to advanced social media tools;
- Kewego is a specialist in behind the firewall and digital signage capabilities for enterprise clients; and,
- Kyte brings a cutting edge mobile publishing and software development kit.
The acquisitions, said KIT digital chairman and CEO Kaeil Isaza Tuzman, "supports the company's aim to deliver end-to-end solutions covering each major aspect of Internet Protocol video management for our three primary client verticals: network operators, content distributors and general corporate enterprises."
For San Francisco-based Kyte, the deal is an opportunity to extend its video platform globally.
"We've been working really hard the past three or four years building what we see as an innovative video platform in the social space, making it a social experience," Kyte COO Gannon Hall told FierceOnlineVideo. "We've always wanted to be part of something at a larger scale. KIT gives us market expertise, geographic reach. It will help us realize the full potential of Kyte in the market."
Although KIT isn't well known in North America, Hall says the company is very active in video technology and services globally. That size should open some doors, particularly on the mobile side, for Kyte.
"It gives us the opportunity to develop solutions that are at a scale we couldn't reach before," Hall said. "Selling our platform to large operators was a real challenge for us before; KIT's scale should help us with that. Bringing together these companies creates a lot of opportunity, and it will allow us to leapfrog over the OVPs in the market. It's exciting."
KIT, meanwhile, said KickApps CEO Alex Blum will become COO of KIT digital. Kyte CTO Erik Abair will become senior director of software development and Hall will become SVP of global marketing.
For more:
- see this release
- see this article
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