Caption group plots US expansion

Ai-Media has clients including Microsoft and the UN, and is now taking on the lucrative US market.

Tony Abrahams, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ai-Media, Australia speaking during the Session "Bringing Dignity with Basic Income" at the Annual Meeting 2018 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 23, 2018. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Boris Baldinger

Sydney-based caption technology provider Ai-Media is taking on a US expansion, acquiring US caption provider Alternative Communications Services (ACS) and completing a $10m capital raise.

Ai-Media provides 2 million minutes' worth of captioning each month through a combination of human and artificial intelligence, and is now taking on the US market through more acquisitions, as well as organic growth.

It’s raised $10.3m from new and existing investors including CVC Emerging Companies Fund and the US-based Anzu Partners.

“In ACS, we have found a strong and growing business that shares our values of access, inclusion and delivering the highest quality service to customers. It is a beautiful cultural fit and we’re very excited that Phil Hyssong will lead the Ai-Media team in the United States,” Ai-Media chief executive and co-founder Tony Abrahams said in a statement.

“Markets like North America provide enormous opportunities for Ai-Media – they are vastly bigger than our home market but the provision of captioning services is highly fragmented and there is a demand for the level of service, quality and innovation that we are able to offer with our technology-driven platform.

“While we remain very focused on organic growth in our international markets, where we see opportunities for additional value-adding strategic acquisitions, like ACS, we will absolutely pursue them.”

According to Mr Abrahams, Ai-Media is consistently raising its revenue generated outside of Australia, from approximately five per cent three years ago to now more than 25 per cent.

He said the company is confident that figure will pass 50 per cent by 2021. Its clients include Microsoft and the United Nations.

Ai-Media Chair Deanne Weir said the company's $10m fund raise would help it take on new opportunities and new clients in new regions.

“There are a number of tailwinds that support Ai-Media’s ambition to build a global business that delivers on our vision of making the world's content accessible, one word at a time," Ms Weir said.

“These include the rise of remote learning and working, the growing popularity of video as a communications medium and the increasing number of jurisdictions around the world mandating captioning to ensure access for all.”