Spot Runner Raises Another $51M

TV advertising startup Spot Runner has raised $51 million from media company and private equity, bringing its total investment to $111 million. The new money comes from the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), Grupo Televisa, Legg Mason Capital Management, Groupe Arnault/LVMH, and will be used for general expansion as well as gaining entrance into the markets of its funders in the UK and Latin America.

Spot Runner has taken money from a whole lot of people en route to that total, including Allen & Company, Battery Ventures, Capital Research and Management, CBS, Index Ventures, The Interpublic Group, Tudor Investment Corporation, and WPP. It just goes to show the fundraising climate is still extremely friendly towards video plays (even if Spot Runner lands a little outside what we would call online video).

The Los Angeles-based company helps make television advertising more accessible by offering a web interface for creation, targeting, and placement of TV spots. It feels Google breathing down its neck with the web giant’s launch last week of its own television advertising product.

Spot Runner is looking to become a powerhouse in its own right; it acquired Weblistic and GlobeShooter in the last four months. It also incubated web video studio 60Frames.