Menzies Corporate Finance advises Ostmodern on £2 million funding
Digital product specialist Ostmodern has raised £2 million to fuel its international growth ambitions. The deal was led by the Corporate Finance wing of professional services firm Menzies.
Founded in 2006, Ostmodern is a professional services firm which works with leading media, broadcast and sport brands to define product strategies, develop innovative solutions and build services that deliver tangible competitive advantage, whether on desktop, mobile, tablet or TV. With offices in London and New York, the firm’s flagship product, Skylark, is a CMS, VMS and API system for content-first businesses such as video-on-demand providers.
As Ostmodern looks to further develop its offering, and expand its global footprint, the firm has attracted £2 million in funding. Secured through private equity firm, Puma Private Equity, the injection of capital will fund the development of Ostmodern’s innovative video content management software, Skylark, as the on-demand video marketplace continues to accelerate due to the pandemic.
Jody Allen, founder and Managing Director of Ostmodern, stated, “Despite some initial disruption caused by the pandemic, this capital funding has come at a critical time for the business and will enable us to take our flagship product to the next level. A big thank you to Alex and his team for helping to keep stress to a minimum throughout the process and enabling us to achieve the next stage of our growth journey.”
Puma Private Equity operates across the country from our offices in London, Liverpool and Edinburgh. The firm is part of an organisation that raised its first private equity fund in 1996.
Kelvin Reader, Investment Manager at Puma Private Equity stated, “We are delighted to be supporting Ostmodern’s strong management team as they draw on their longstanding industry experience to capitalise on the growth of video-on-demand that we are witnessing worldwide – we look forward to seeing their future achievements. Thank you to the team at Menzies who provided valuable advisory support in bringing this investment to completion swiftly.”
The corporate finance team at audit and advisory firm Menzies – which has offices across Surrey, Hampshire, London and Cardiff, over 400 employees and an annual turnover of more than £40 million – led the advisory on all aspects of the fundraising initiative. Headed up by Corporate Finance Director Alex Duffy, the team provided guidance regarding the company’s business plan and presentation to investors, as well as ensuring that the communication and investment process was seamless.
Duffy commented, “The pandemic has caused the on-demand video industry to grow at an exponential rate and Ostmodern’s Skylark product is ideally placed to capitalise on this. It’s been a pleasure working with the management and the business, which is clearly heading for a successful future.”
Partners Tom Wilde and Steve Barnett from law firm Shoosmiths advised Ostmodern on the legal aspects of the deal. The UK law firm has 13 locations across the UK, with 213 partners and 1608 lawyers and business support employees.
