LG Electronics has reportedly made a significant investment in Alphonso, in an effort to bring together the innovations & technologies of the two firms into LG’s lineup of smart TVs. This $80 million investment has made LG the largest investor in Alphonso, with a controlling stake of over 50%.
Understanding consumer trends and preferences has become one of the core priorities of LG, as it works on building a digital transformation strategy geared towards delivering better, personalized services. LG is expecting to use Alphonso’s services and software, including media planning & activation, data analytics, and Video AI, among others for its home entertainment product range.
The combined offerings from Alphonso will help enhance consumer services like content recommendations and LG Channels streaming service from LG, creating a strong owned and operated cross-device, first screen advertising platform with an integrated analytics platform for TVs by LG, as well as for the smart TV business space as a whole.
This is the first investment round for Alphonso since its $5.6 million Series A funding in 2017, which was led by Manifest Investment Partners. The company will continue operations as an independent business, under the current Silicon Valley-based leadership and brand.
LG Home Entertainment Company president, Park Hyoung-sei has reportedly stated that this investment in Alphonso is a key part of LG’s digital transformation strategy, focused on leveraging big data, cloud, and AI to bring about a fundamental change in the way consumers interact with their devices. He added that with the TV data analysis abilities of Alphonso, the company will be able to better accommodate consumer needs and deliver more customized content and services.
Founder & CEO of Alphonso, Ashish Chordia, also commented on the deal, stating that the two firms have a shared vision of expanding the smart TV ecosystem via innovative services and software designed to deliver novel modern consumer experiences on the one hand, and lucrative, highly flexible planning, advertising and measurement services for agencies, broadcasters and brands on the other.
Source credit: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210106005916/en/LG-Acquires-Controlling-Stake-in-TV-Data-and-Measurement-Firm-Alphonso
