Announcing: Wowza’s Partnership With Clearhaven Partners
Innovation has been a constant at Wowza since we founded the company in 2007. It’s in this spirit that I’m excited to announce our partnership with Clearhaven Partners, a private equity investment firm focused exclusively on technology companies, to further drive value for our customers.
Over the past 14 years, Wowza has shaped the live streaming industry. We’ve powered streaming for more than 35,000 organizations worldwide, and we’re a trusted solutions provider to more than 60% of the organizations on Gartner’s Enterprise Video Content Management Magic Quadrant.*
By virtue of operating in such a dynamic space, our employees and customers are familiar with Wowza’s ongoing evolution. And yet, today’s announcement marks a new chapter and growth trajectory entirely.
We’re delighted to partner with the talented team at Clearhaven to spearhead this next phase of innovation. To kick it all off, our joint leadership teams are already collaborating on company priorities to fuel the continued explosion of online video in the years ahead. We look forward to communicating our initiatives and major milestones with you along the way.
Joining Forces for Business Innovation
Clearhaven Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm focused on accelerating value creation and helping software companies realize their full potential. Their significant investment in Wowza paves the way for business growth and technological innovation across our portfolio of video streaming solutions. Together, we’re better equipped to deliver the most reliable media streaming solutions for our customers’ essential streaming needs.
Culture is a key to Wowza’s success and finding the right partner to build upon that strength was important. We had the privilege to meet with a number of private equity firms. From the moment we spoke with Clearhaven, we knew they were different, and we had the potential for a great relationship. After getting to know their team across numerous COVID-era dinners, we quickly established a rapport that enables us to move forward with conviction.
My new colleague Michelle C. Noon, the co-founder and managing partner of Clearhaven, explains it best:
“Clearhaven has long invested behind a thesis in video technology as we seek to partner with leading companies that solve mission-critical challenges and address opportunities arising from video proliferation. Wowza is an incredible founder-built organization that does exactly that. We’re thrilled to partner with CEO Dave Stubenvoll, COO Brendan Daly, and the Wowza management team to fuel continued innovation and accelerated growth.”
Maintaining a Focus on Customer Success
Wowza and Clearhaven share a commitment to a customer-driven approach to delivering value. Over the last few years, Wowza has refocused the company beyond core video components to become a full-service solution that partners with customers to grow their businesses with video. This investment enables us to capitalize on and accelerate that transition.
Our collaboration with Clearhaven provides the resources needed to enhance Wowza’s solutions and solve complex media streaming challenges for our customers. As I said, we seek to be the partner our customers scale with, for which reason we’re prioritizing a concerted focus on the expansion and enhancement of our cloud-based solutions.
Investing in the Future
With Clearhaven’s backing, I remain the CEO and a member of the board of directors, as well as a significant shareholder in Wowza. I’m also eager to bring Clearhaven’s expertise into the fold. Our strategy remains focused on providing the industry’s highest quality, most reliable video streaming solution on the market — but our capacity for doing so has increased exponentially.
It’s the same Wowza you’ve come to rely on, now poised for next level success with Clearhaven’s investment and guidance.
Stay tuned. We’ll have more to share in the coming months!
*Based on vendors listed in Gartner’s Market Guide for CDN Services