Mux

Mux builds video infrastructure for software developers: an API for encoding, storing and streaming video, a video player, and Mux Data, an analytics product that measures viewer quality of experience. It was founded in San Francisco in 2015 by Jon Dahl, Steve Heffernan, Matt McClure and Adam Brown. Dahl and Heffernan had previously founded Zencoder, a cloud encoding company sold to Brightcove in 2012. Mux went through Y Combinator in 2016, and its first product was the quality of service analytics platform; it launched its streaming API with per title encoding in 2018. Customers named in its funding coverage include Robinhood, PBS, ViacomCBS and Equinox Media.

A Form D filed in January 2017 records about $12 million sold in an offering that began in December 2016. In April 2017 Mux announced a $9 million Series A led by Accel, which brought total funding to $12 million including its 2016 seed round; earlier backers listed on Wikipedia include Y Combinator, Lowercase Capital, Susa Ventures and SV Angel. A Series B of about $20 million followed in mid 2019, and an April 2019 Form D records about $18 million sold. In August 2020 Mux raised a $37 million Series C led by Andreessen Horowitz with Accel and Cobalt participating, bringing total funding to about $69 million. On April 30, 2021 it announced a $105 million Series D led by Coatue, with Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Cobalt and new investor Dragoneer, bringing total funding to $175 million at a valuation reported as over $1 billion.

Mux remains independent and privately held, with no acquisition or public listing on record. At the time of the Series D the company said revenue had grown four times year over year, with live streaming volume up 3,700 percent and on demand streaming up 300 percent. In 2020 coverage, Andreessen Horowitz partner Kristina Shen described net revenue retention near 160 percent. No later priced round has been disclosed in the sources reviewed.

Mux shows how quickly usage based infrastructure can move through venture stages when demand spikes. Accel entered at the Series A in 2017, Andreessen Horowitz led the 2020 round during the pandemic surge in streaming, and crossover investors Coatue and Dragoneer priced the company above $1 billion less than a year later. The founders' prior exit at Zencoder gave early investors a team that had already sold a video infrastructure business. Liquidity for its backers has not yet occurred.