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Top VCs bet $32M on Highfive’s flavor of download-free videoconferencing
Highfive Technologies Inc., a startup that competes in the crowded videoconferencing market with its own custom communications hardware, today announced the completion of a $32 million funding round.
The lead investor was $8 billion technology consulting provider Dimension Data Holdings Plc. The company is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based telecommunications giant NTT Group, which regularly backs funding rounds into startups much like fellow Japanese carrier SoftBank Group Corp. Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst contributed to Highfive’s new financing as well.
The startup will use the capital to expand operations. Highfive provides a videoconferencing platform that consists of a cloud service and a homegrown communications module. Designed to be mounted on a wall or screen, the device (pictured) combines a wide-angle video camera capable of capturing an entire room with a noise-cancelling microphone array. There’s also a wireless modem for enabling remote control.
According to Highfive, a worker located in a conference room equipped with a Highfive module can quickly set up a call from a desktop or their mobile device. The cloud-based component of the startup’s platform allows participants to join without having to download a software client onto their endpoints. This makes the overall experience more convenient, which Highfive said can increase the chance of a potential customer and other users accepting a meeting invite.
Highfive claimed to be processing about 16 million minutes of videoconferencing per month. Notable users of the platform include Evernote Inc., The Atlantic and Ryzac Inc., the company behind Codeacademy.
The company also has a budding network of partners that resell its platform to their corporate customers. One of the latest distributors to have come aboard is Dimension Data, a development no doubt connected to the newly announced funding round.
The capital will come handy for Highfive as it works to gain more ground in the video conferencing market. The startup is up against much bigger players such as Cisco Systems Inc., Citrix Systems Inc. and Zoom Video Communications Inc., as well as a good number of smaller providers.
Highfive has raised more than $77 million in funding to date.
Image: Highfive
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