Visiware reinforces its capital position with Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Entrepreneur Venture to become a leader in Social TV

Visiware has raised 5 million Euros from Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Entrepreneur Venture to strengthen its position as the leader in the PlayAlongTM market and to develop its Social TV offering.

Based in Sèvres, Visiware has for the past 10 years been the world leader in digital television gaming with its Playin’TV™ channel. It recently launched PlayAlong™, a solution that has already become a reference for the market. This solution allows millions of viewers to participate simultaneously in televised shows from home using their laptop, tablet, or Smartphone.

To date, Visiware has produced 400 shows using it’s PlayAlongTM platform resulting in 12 million games played in nine different countries (Brazil, United States, France, Malaysia, Netherlands, etc.) on channels such as Antena3, Fox, SBT, SBS6, TF1, ZDF…

Studies show that 60% of television viewers regularly use their tablets, Smartphones, or PC while watching TV (source: Nielsen Jan 2011). , With audience participation rates increasing from 20-28% thanks to its PlayAlong (source: Mediamétrie Sept 2011), the innovative Cloud platform launched by Visiware provides a very reliable and economical way to keep these viewers interacting with television programs, by playing, voting, debating, learning, etc.

Laurant Weill, Chairman and founder of Visiware, states: “We are delighted to welcome Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Entrepreneur Venture, two quality investors, into our capital. Their longterm support will enable us to achieve our ambitious objectives. Visiware’s Social TV products in conjunction with the PlayAlong platform, has very strong potential. They enable us to offer viewers a different TV experience that is adapted to new user behaviors. This offer enables stations and operators a chance to interact with their audience and develop new forms of monetization. We thank Privateq Advisors AG for the invaluable help they have given us in organizing this round.”

Bertrand Folliet, a partner in Entrepreneur Venture adds: “We were impressed by the quality and reliability of Visiware’s PlayAlongTM technology, which offers unprecedented and rich interactivity for players of Endemol’s Money Drop. The robustness of the PlayinStar™ platform also allows for playing 24/7, creating an additional level of monetization for media partners.”

Renaud Poulard, a partner in Crédit Agricole Private Equity and administrator with Visiware, stresses: “The convergence of TV and the Web, social TV, are basic trends. Visiware management very early seized these opportunities and today Visiware is a leader in the sector. Visiware has one of the best platforms on the TV-Web audience monetization market.”