NEW YORK — It considers itself to be “the most advanced intrinsic in-game advertising” platform in the world. And, it has just announced a $48 million Series B funding round, which “significantly increases” its valuation.
The infusion of dollars for Anzu involves “several new high-profile investors.”
Who led the funding round? Look no further than Jeff Smulyan.
The founder and head of Emmis Communications signed off on the dollar injection, and also gives Emmis a seat on the board of director for Anzu, whose brand promise is to bring in-game ads to players in a way that helps advertisers reach audiences programmatically “in a non-disruptive and highly engaging way.”
The new funding round, which saw additional investments from PayPal Ventures, Evolution, Simon Equity Partners, and a corporate venture arm of Japanese multinational entertainment company Bandai Namco Entertainment, will also include converting the SAFE notes and investors exiting with a 10x valuation increase, Anzu says.
Pre-existing Anzu investors include Sony Innovation Fund, NBCUniversal, WPP, Bitkraft, Samsung Next, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) Ventures, Axel Springer and Marquee Ventures — the venture capital fund anchored by the parent company of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball club.
The funding follows the recent hire of Nerissa MacDonald as EVP of Global Sales at Anzu.
“We are thrilled to close our Series B funding round and bring some exciting new investors on board,” said Itamar Benedy, Anzu’s Co-Founder and CEO. “We are confident that in-game advertising has the potential to be a multi-billion dollar market, and Anzu is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this huge opportunity. Over the past year, we have achieved some significant milestones towards our vision, and have connected with more exclusive AAA games and premium content, expanded our measurement capabilities for advertisers, and secured patents for our unique intellectual property.”
On the new funding, Smulyan said, “In-game advertising is ready to become the next major advertising category as marketers connect their brands with billions of cloud, PC, console, and mobile gamers worldwide. We look forward to partnering with Anzu as it delivers the technology and business system to make in-game advertising a large part of every marketer’s media buying plans.”
