Daily Raises $15M Series A for Real-Time Video Platform

Daily Secures $15 Million Series A Funding Amidst Surge in Real-Time Video Demand

The company behind a developer platform specializing in real-time audio and video has experienced substantial growth recently. This increase is largely attributed to the expanding need for remote work solutions, virtual events, and telehealth services spurred by the global pandemic. Over the last year, Daily reported approximately a 20-fold increase in its paying customer base and a 30-fold rise in revenue.

New Funding Round and Investors

Despite initial reservations about raising capital given its growth trajectory, Daily has successfully closed a $15 million Series A funding round. The investment was spearheaded by Lachy Groom, an early employee at Stripe who now operates as an investor.

Groom’s connection to Daily originated through his portfolio company, Interval.com, which utilizes Daily’s platform. Participation in the round also included Tiger Global, a collection of angel investors, and the majority of Daily’s previous seed investors, bringing the company’s total funding to $22 million.

A Long-Held Vision Realized

Founded in 2016, Daily was established on the premise that video technology would become increasingly prevalent. The pandemic and subsequent market shifts have significantly validated this initial vision.

“We anticipated, even then, that video would become integral to how we live, work, and interact with various products,” explains Nina Kuruvilla, Daily co-founder. “We recognized the need for new platforms and tools to simplify the integration and utilization of video technology.”

Platform Applications and Key Features

Daily’s platform is currently employed by companies shaping the future of work, including Tandem, a virtual office startup, Teamflow, a virtual HQ platform, and Pitch, a presentation tool. Other users include GitDuck, Flo Recruit, and enterprises in healthcare and customer support.

Developers can integrate video calls using Daily’s prebuilt UI with minimal code, or they can create fully customized video experiences. The prebuilt option offers features like video chat, screen sharing, and recording. The custom approach provides greater control over the user interface and functionality.

Addressing the Challenges of Real-Time Communication

“Real-time video and audio present significant technical challenges,” states Kwindla Kramer, Daily co-founder. “Our platform provides the necessary APIs for rapid development, offering the flexibility to continuously improve the product. Furthermore, we maintain a global infrastructure that allows our customers to scale without the need for extensive internal development.”

Daily’s global server network minimizes latency issues, and the platform ensures compatibility across various devices and operating systems.

Security, Privacy, and Compliance

Daily prioritizes security and privacy, maintaining HIPAA compliance and avoiding the capture of customer data. The platform provides transparency regarding encryption practices. Peer-to-peer calls utilize end-to-end encryption, while calls routed through servers are encrypted during transmission and decryption occurs on the servers for features like forwarding and recording.

The platform also offers data residency options, allowing customers to restrict audio and video packet transmission outside the European Union for regulatory compliance. Integration with preferred transcription engines and live streaming APIs is also supported.

Insights and Analytics

Customers can access call quality insights and visualizations through Daily’s developer dashboard.

Simplified Pricing Structure

Daily offers a straightforward pricing model, with introductory plans for smaller users and a “Scale” plan at $199 per month for 10,000 minutes. Usage beyond this allotment is billed at an additional per-minute rate.

Accelerated Adoption and Future Use Cases

While demand for video was already growing before the pandemic, particularly in remote work and healthcare, COVID-19 significantly accelerated its adoption. The need for video communication became paramount in March 2020.

“The landscape of productivity and the future of work is evolving rapidly,” says Kuruvilla. “We’re seeing applications in online events, healthcare, customer support, interactive live streaming, IoT, robotics, social networking, and gaming.”

Innovation Beyond Basic Video Conferencing

Initial pandemic-driven adoption focused on quickly establishing video capabilities. Subsequently, customers began exploring innovative applications, such as virtual fitness classes with integrated participant views and hybrid video/audio experiences for live events.

The company anticipates continued growth even as the world transitions beyond the pandemic, driven by these emerging use cases.

“While traditional video conferencing may stabilize or decline, these new applications are gaining momentum due to their genuine utility,” notes Kramer.

Strategic Investor Alignment

The team selected Lachy Groom as an investor due to his understanding of Daily’s vision, a perspective shared by early investor Jenny Lefcourt. This alignment was deemed crucial for guiding the company’s future development.

Future Plans and Expansion

The new funding will be allocated to expanding the engineering team, enhancing call quality and reliability, broadening the global infrastructure, and supporting larger calls and more complex use cases.

Daily’s investor base includes Freestyle Capital, Root Ventures, Y Combinator, Slack Fund, Moxxie Ventures, Haystack Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, Ground Up Ventures, Offline Ventures, Work Life Ventures, Basement Fund, Compound, and numerous angel investors.