ES3™ and its subsidiary company Zone·tv, announced the closing of $22.5 million of new capital to accelerate the company’s growth in interactive and Free, Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST).
The round included both equity from its new partner, Block Communications Inc., a major US cable and media company, as well as a debt refinancing with The Toronto-Dominion Bank. The company was represented by Manulife Securities Incorporated’s Private Company Advisory group for both the debt and equity components. The combined financing results in an optimal capital structure, lower cost of capital and a significant investment for future growth. The company is poised for rapid growth through the continued expansion of its industry-leading Interactive TV experiences and its FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) service, called zone·ify.
The company will use its equity funding to advance its world leading interactive experiences that have been proven at scale, with customers and brands such as DIRECTV, Comcast, HBO, Warner, Discovery and many others. The funding will also accelerate the growth of its ad-supported streaming service, zone·ify. In addition to its thematic short-form dynamic channels, zone·ify will soon deliver thousands of on-demand tv shows and movies and even more content categories to be announced in the Fall. This enhanced customer experience, positions zone·ify for explosive growth in the emerging FAST market. Zone·tv is actively hiring sales, marketing & content professionals as well as software developers & engineers to join its growing team.
Allan Block, CEO of Block Communications
With its leading interactive service offering and exceptional leadership team, the future of Zone·tv is set up for exciting success. Block has a long history in media and communications and believe streaming and advanced capabilities are critical to industry success going forward.
Jeff Weber, Zone·tv CEO
Zone·tv is positioned perfectly in the current industry environment. Our ability to enhance and extend operators traditional TV business with breakthrough consumer experiences and enhanced ad supported streaming make us an ideal partner for operators, media companies and advertisers.
