Portable broadcasting solution provider LiveU said it has been acquired by private equity firm Francisco Partners and co-investor IGP Capital.
The company – which provides video products for TV, mobile, online and social media – said it already serves more than 3,000 customers in more than 130 countries. But, the acquisition will help it grow even faster in international markets.
"We are delighted to have Francisco Partners, a firm with an established track record, as our new majority owner. This will allow us to focus on our long-term strategy and growth objectives, benefiting our customers, partners and employees,” said Samuel Wasserman, CEO and co-founder of LiveU, in a statement.
"The broadcast and media industries are in a period of rapid change and LiveU is distinctively positioned to help customers capitalize on this opportunity with its strong market position and unmatched product innovation and performance,” said Mario Razzini, principal at Francisco Partners, in a statement.
RELATED: Deeper Dive—How AT&T’s 5G will change LiveU’s broadcasting backpacks
One of LiveU’s key products is its portable broadcasting backpacks, which sub in for production vehicles and bond together cellular signals from current 4G and LTE networks, along with satellite and Wi-Fi connectivity. The company recently announced that it has begun testing 5G connectivity with AT&T. LiveU hopes to have 5G backpacks in the field before the end of 2019.
Avi Cohen, co-founder and chief operations officer at LiveU, told FierceVideo 5G is going to take the LiveU backpack’s streaming reliability from 99% to 99.9%.
In addition to more reliability, 5G will provide enough bandwidth to connect multiple cameras to one backpack and to also stream formats like 4K.
“More stability, lower latency, higher capacity and a big, big help in congested areas. This is the motivation to move to 5G,” Cohen said.