Pulpix

Pulpix was founded in 2015 by Sabry Otmani and Denis Vilar, who held the roles of CEO and Co-Founder, respectively. The founders, with academic backgrounds from HEC and Télécom Paris, initially created a media site before conceptualizing Pulpix as a bridge between video and web content. The company gained significant traction by securing a spot in the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator's Winter 2016 batch, which included an investment of $120,000 for a 7% stake in the company. This was a pivotal moment, following an unsuccessful application in 2015, and required the team to relocate to Palo Alto. Over its lifetime, Pulpix raised a total of $1 million in funding over two seed rounds from investors including Acequia Capital, Studio VC, and SagaCity Ventures.

Pulpix developed a technology solution for online video platforms and publishers aimed at increasing user engagement and traffic. The core product was an AI-powered recommendation engine delivered via a JavaScript plugin that integrated with existing video players like JW Player, Brightcove, and Ooyala. Using technologies such as speech recognition and semantic analysis, the platform would analyze the video content in real-time to suggest contextually relevant articles and other internal content from the publisher's site. This was presented through an overlay, allowing viewers to browse related content without leaving the video, sometimes in a picture-in-picture format. This approach was designed to mimic the fluid content discovery of text-based articles, where hyperlinks provide deeper information, a feature often lacking in video experiences. The business model focused on serving publishers, with notable early clients including Vice, GQ, and Le Monde. The service demonstrated a capacity to increase video views by an average of 20% and uplift overall video views between 10% and 150% for its partners.

In March 2018, Pulpix was acquired by Adyoulike, a global native advertising platform, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was a strategic move for Adyoulike to integrate Pulpix's sophisticated video recommendation technology into its native advertising offerings, aiming to create a leading Native Video solution. At the time of the acquisition, Pulpix was a team of around 15 employees with offices in New York and Paris. The merger was seen as a natural fit, combining Pulpix's strength in user engagement through AI with Adyoulike's extensive network of publishers and advertisers. Following the deal, Pulpix's CEO, Sabry Otmani, expressed that the combination would enable the creation of the best Native Video company. Adyoulike itself was later acquired by OpenWeb in 2022.

Keywords: video engagement, content recommendation, AI video analysis, contextual content, Y Combinator, publisher tools, video player plugin, semantic analysis, speech recognition, picture-in-picture, user engagement, video traffic, adtech, native advertising, Adyoulike, Sabry Otmani, Denis Vilar, video metadata, video SEO, viewer retention, binge-watching technology, online video platform, javascript plugin, Brightcove integration, Ooyala integration