Qumu

The story of Qumu begins in 2002, born from the ashes of the dot-com era. When Yahoo acquired the search engine company Inktomi, it also inherited a video management technology called Media Publisher. Spotting an opportunity, two former executives from eScene, the original developer of the technology, approached Yahoo and acquired the Media Publisher product. For the next six years, they dedicated themselves to transforming it into a robust enterprise video platform, officially rebranding the company as Qumu in 2008. The company focused on providing a secure and scalable video platform for large global corporations, enabling everything from executive webcasts to employee training. A key moment came in 2014 with the acquisition of Kulu Valley, a London-based video provider. This move allowed Qumu to expand into the cloud and offer hybrid on-premise and cloud solutions to its clients. While the company had gone public via a reverse merger that technically dates its IPO to 1992, a significant public offering in January 2021 raised approximately $23.1 million in net proceeds. Despite its technological foundation and market position, Qumu faced persistent financial struggles and significant operating losses. After a failed merger attempt with Synacor in 2021 and pressure from investors, the company began seeking a strategic sale. The final chapter of its independent journey was written in late 2022, when Canadian software company Enghouse Systems announced its intention to acquire Qumu for approximately $18 million. The acquisition was completed in February 2023, integrating Qumu into Enghouse's Interactive Management Group.