Titan OS raises $58 million from Highland Europe for its smart TV OS

TV makers request to get much beingness worth from a lawsuit aft selling a unit. With much contention successful the market, companies often request to merchantability TVs astatine a discounted terms with little margins. The champion mode for them to retrieve the wealth is by striking partnerships with channels, streaming services, and advertisers.

This is the halfway thesis astir Barcelona-based Titan OS, which provides a astute TV operating strategy to TV makers with a committedness to get amended beingness worth retired of the customer.

The institution said contiguous it has raised €50 cardinal ($58 million) successful Series A funding, led by Highland Europe, with information from Mangrove Capital Partners. The institution didn’t specify however overmuch wealth it has raised to date, but said that its effect round, raised successful 2023, was successful double-digit millions.

The startup was founded successful 2023 by Jacinto Roca, Timothy Edwards, Miquel Barba, and Tobias Pfalzgraff. Roca antecedently founded a streaming startup called Wukai.tv and sold it to Rakuten. Other co-founders person besides held assorted roles astatine Rakuten.

Jacinto Roca Image Credits: Titan OS

Titan OS present serves 18 cardinal users, mostly crossed Europe and Latin America, via partnerships with Phillips and JVC.

The bundle is designed to assistance users observe contented easily, arsenic Nielsen said successful 2023 that the clip spent trying to find content to ticker has increased. Titan OS aims to usage information insights from users and its immense contented portfolio to trim that time. Across the OS, users person entree to a premix of broadcast TV, streaming apps that they subscribe to, on with FAST (free ad-supported television) channels from Titan OS’s partners.

For the company, gross accidental lies successful a fewer cardinal areas. First, it partners with galore FAST services to assistance them scope the section audience. Second, determination are advertizing opportunities connected the location surface of the TV and during streams that scope millions of users. The institution said its contented partners are anxious to scope caller audiences done advertising, particularly event-heavy contented channels that amusement sports.

Titan OS besides offers shoppable ads that person customers execute actions similar scanning a QR codification to bargain an item. The startup said that done these areas, it has grown 10x successful gross successful 2 years.

While TV makers similar Sony mightiness not shed their halfway operating system, they are keen to spouse with companies similar Titan OS to connection much FAST channels to their customers. Multiple reports suggest that for TV makers, advertizing is becoming a much lucrative revenue-earning enactment than hardware itself. Titan OS COO Edwards buys into this ethos.

“It utilized to beryllium the lawsuit that hardware manufacturers made astir of their nett from selling the instrumentality itself. But now, immoderate hardware manufacturers that person their ain operating strategy marque much nett from ongoing contented and advertizing revenues than they bash from really selling the hardware. And this is simply a large change,” helium told TechCrunch implicit a call.

“What we connection them [TV companies] is an quality to make ongoing contented and advertizing revenues aft the instrumentality is sold, which is not the presumption quo successful the market.”

Edwards said that, to grow the company’s footprint successful Europe, the institution is bolstering its portfolio of section connection ad-supported channels catered to each geography. With this strategy, the startup, which competes with the likes of Whale TV and Xperi’s TiVO, offers implicit 100 channels successful these markets.

The institution presently has 200 radical crossed 3 offices successful Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Taipei. The further backing volition assistance Titan OS bolster the unit crossed merchandise and sales, enactment connected caller partnerships, and make caller advertizing projects. The institution aims to support its maturation curve and rise further backing adjacent year.

Laurance Garrett, a spouse astatine Highland Europe, equated Titan OS with WeTransfer, the VC firm’s concern that was acquired by Bending Spoons.

“With Titan OS, determination is the quality of the advertizing exemplary connected apical of the existent halfway OS. It was thing we could place with [from their acquisition with WeTransfer], and the partners loved it,” helium said.

Garrett added that with Titan OS’s European roots, the institution tin amended recognize the nitty-gritty of the section marketplace arsenic compared to players coming successful from abroad.