Finland’s Elisa invests in VOD company Voddler

Sweden-based online video-on-demand company Voddler has completed a private placement with SEK40m (€4.3m) in new capital, including an investment by Finnish telecom group Elisa.

In addition to the investment, Elisa and Voddler have also signed a cooperation agreement, whereby the two companies will be working together to bring Voddler to the Finnish market. Elisa has secured further exclusive rights to offer its customers ‘invites’ to use Voddler.

“Video and film are strategically important to us, both on current and future markets. It was self-evident to invest in and start a cooperation with Voddler, the leading video-on-demand service on the market,” said Vesa-Pekka Nikula, vice-president, business development at  Elisa.
Voddler has also named Mikael Rönnblad, vice-president of consumer services business at Elisa, to its board.

Voddler has about 720,000 registered users. Of the 2,500 titles that it carries, over 80% are free movies, financed by pre-roll advertising. Voddler is freely available for everyone in Sweden and Norway, and currently on an ‘invitation-only’ basis in Finland and Denmark.