Vdopia, a US and India-based video ad network firm, has raised $4 million in the first round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners. Vdopia is an ad network and platform for the iPhone that enables application developers and advertisers to simultaneously monetize their applications.
The firm has also appointed Rohit Sharma, who was till recently with Mohr Davidow Ventures, as its new President and CEO. Sharma, who has worked with companies like ONI Systems, will work with Vdopia co-founders to continue to grow revenue, a press release said. Its founders are Chhavi Upadhyay, Saurabh Bhatia and Srikanth Kakani.
"Advertisers are always looking to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers, to respond to emerging technologies, and Vdopia is perfectly placed to lead the way," said Sharma.
"Vdopia prioritizes the user in creating consumer-friendly video and an embedded app-within-an-app advertising experience as part of its iVdopia platform for smartphones," said Suvir Sujan, co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, who has also joined the company board.
This will be the third investment that Nexus has announced this month. It announced an investment of Rs 50 crore in Eka Software Solutions, which provides software for commodity trading and risk management. This week Nexus said that it has invested Rs 15 crore in Deccan Healthcare, a Hyderabad-based nutraceutical products company.
Vdopia claims to be the the first company to enable pre-app/in-app video advertising on all iPhone applications. It also says that users in its network watch more than 50% of the Pre-App video and the performance is 300% higher than traditional online video ads.
There are several other video ad networks which have raised VC funding in the past. Last year Jivox raised $10.7 million from Opus Capital and Helion Venture Partners. Also in 2008, Bangalore-based Ozone Media raised around $4 million from IDG Ventures India.
