Drake Star Partners Advises Cleeng On Its Growth Financing From Walvis Participaties

  • Year
    June/2018
  • Sector
    Software/SaaS Consumer & Retail Tech Digital Media Communications
  • Our Mission
    Exclusive Financial Advisor to Cleeng

Video eCommerce

AMSTERDAM | June 26, 2018 – Cleeng, the leading video eCommerce provider, completed its growth financing from Walvis Participaties and existing shareholders, which will enable the company to accelerate its international growth. This latest funding round will give the investors a minority stake in the company. Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Cleeng on this transaction.

Founded in 2011, Cleeng is the leading company for selling premium videos direct-to-consumer. Its fully managed Live PPV and SVOD solutions take care of all the steps from Identity and Access Management, e-commerce, and end-user support to security. The Company’s highly scalable platform has been used by leading brands in sports, entertainment, education and houses of worship, such as, Sinclair Broadcasting, FranceTV, FIFA, NHRA, GSN, Golden Boy Promotions and One Championship.

“We are very pleased to have a renowned investor such as Walvis join our shareholding and support our growth at a time when the OTT industry is growing rapidly, as more and more brands and organisations are planning to monetise their video content through online solutions,” said Gilles Domartini, Founder & CEO of Cleeng. He continued: Drake Star Partners’ expertise in fundraising processes with fast-growing tech companies was of great help to successfully close this transaction.”

With this fundraising, the Company is ready to fulfil its global objective to empower content owners, broadcasters and publishers to securely distribute and monetise their direct-to-consumer content around the world.

“It was a pleasure working with Gilles Domartini (Founder & CEO, Cleeng) and his team to achieve this successful fundraising and prepare the company to reach its long-term goals. They have built a unique platform with global clients and are well-positioned to become a dominant player in the OTT industry with the support of Walvis as their partner,” commented Frank Verbeek, Managing Partner at Drake Star. “This transaction confirms the consolidation trend occurring in the OTT market, a trend we expect to continue in the coming months.”

Drake Star Partners team: Frank Verbeek, Tom van Wees
Legal advisors: Van Doorne

About Cleeng

Cleeng provides Authentication, Commerce, Security and Customer Care solutions for premium videos. It is a flexible and cost-efficient platform used by leading brands like FIFA, Final Fantasy, Golden Boy Promotions, One FC, Nordic Business Forum to sell their videos live and on-demand. Cleeng solves this by delivering turnkey and exceptional solutions quickly, deeply integrated with the leading OVPs including Brightcove, Livestream, Verizon DMS etc. The company was founded in 2011 by former Apple, Philips and NEC e-commerce and media experts.

For more information, please visit www.cleeng.com

About Walvis Participaties

Walvis is Dutch for whale. Young whales grow rapidly to become healthy creatures that rule the oceans. They are strong because of their intelligence and family connections. John A. Fentener van Vlissingen founded Walvis in 2012. With expertise and network, Walvis helps young Dutch internet companies to grow into future global players.

For more information, please visit www.walvis.com

Inquiries

For further inquiries, please contact:

Frank Verbeek
Managing Partner Netherlands | Drake Star Partners
Frank.verbeek@drakestar.com | +31 6 538 39 013

Tom van Wees
Analyst | Drake Star Partners
Tom.vanwees@drakestar.com | +31 6 203 96 793

About Drake Star Partners

Drake Star Partners is a global investment banking firm serving the technology, media and communications sectors (TMC) with offices in New York, London, Paris, Munich, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, Geneva, Singapore* and Dubai*. The firm focuses on M&A and corporate finance for its clients worldwide. Drake Star Partners completed over 400 transactions since 2004, 70% of which are cross-border.

Drake Star Partners is the marketing name for the global investment bank Drake Star Partners Limited and its subsidiaries and affiliates. In the USA, all securities are transacted through Drake Star Securities LLC. In the USA, Drake Star Securities LLC is regulated by FINRA and is a member of SIPC. Drake Star UK Limited (FRN 942020) is an appointed representative of Kession Capital Ltd (FRN582160) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. © 2016 Drake Star Partners Limited.

www.drakestar.com

*Partner Offices