This article was published on November 28, 2011

Brazilian video service Samba Tech expands to Latin America, aiming for IPO in 2016


Brazilian video service Samba Tech expands to Latin America, aiming for IPO in 2016

The Brazilian SaaS online video platform Samba Tech is expanding across Latin America, the company just announced.

If you read the article we wrote about Samba Tech last June, you may not be surprised. At the time, the company’s CEO Gustavo Caetano already mentioned the company’s regional expansion plans.

This is now a done deal: the company is opening offices in Buenos Aires, and has hired a regional commercial director, former Microsoft and Adobe marketing executive Federico Epis Aguirre. Besides heading Samba Tech’s team of four in Argentina, Epis will be in charge of supervising Samba Tech’s operations in Paraguay, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico.

Samba Tech is already active in these countries, and has closed partnerships with local TVs channels around the upcoming Telethon. It’s not a first for the company: over the last years, it has already partnered with major Brazilian broadcasters around live events, including the Brazilian edition of the Telethon.

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This time, Samba Tech will be in charge of the Telethon’s online live broadcast of the charity fundraising event across several Latin American countries during the month of December.

Samba Tech’s ambitions

While many Brazilian companies don’t see the need for international expansion nor consider Latin America as their natural market, Samba Tech seems determined to become a regional leader in its sector, online video.

Samba Tech is indeed convinced that online video represents a growing opportunity in Latin America, where 4 out of 5 Internet users now watch online video, according to comScore. This is a huge increase compared to previous years, and from Samba Tech’s perspective it means that TV channels’ and media groups’ demand for online video solutions is growing fast.

Launching international operations is only one part of Samba Tech’s expansion plans. As we reported a few months ago, it recently acquired the Brazilian video sharing platform Videolog. According to Gustavo Caetano, the company will keep betting on acquisitions and international expansion.

Combined with domestic sales, he expects this strategy to help Samba Tech meet its financial goals: reach a R$100 million turnover in 3 years (US$53m) and be ready for IPO by 2016.

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