Bitmovin wins £17m in funding from EU bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing funding of up to £17.2m (€20m) to Bitmovin, the developer of video streaming technology.

Bitmovin’s streaming clients include the BBC, fuboTV, Hulu Japan, RTL and iFlix.

The EIB said the loan will allow Bitmovin to strengthen its research and development (R&D) and product development team in Austria and support investment in sales and marketing to scale up its distribution network.

The EU bank’s loan is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

EIB vice-president Andrew McDowell, who is responsible for operations in Austria at the Bank, said: “Bitmovin has developed an intelligent approach to delivering an optimised video experience and solving bandwidth issues, utilising a software-driven solution uncoupled from hardware.”

European Commissioner Carlos Moedas, responsible for research, science and innovation, added: ”Investing in research and development is crucial to any business and I am proud that the EU is helping our European tech entrepreneurs scale up and develop their products and services.”

Bitmovin CEO Stefan Lederer (pictured) said: “Our founding team started by contributing research and development to modern video standards, and now we’re excited to accelerate that effort with this investment.”