Kumar brings significant leadership experience driving growth and innovation. Dave Stubenvoll, Co-Founder and outgoing CEO, to remain active as an investor and on the Company's Board of Directors
LAKEWOOD, Colo., Nov. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wowza, the global leader in mission-critical live and on-demand video streaming software, today announced the appointment of Krish Kumar as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 2, 2024. Krish succeeds Co-Founder and CEO Dave Stubenvoll, who has led Wowza since its founding in 2007. Stubenvoll remains a meaningful investor in Wowza and a member of its Board of Directors. Wowza has been backed by Boston-based software private equity firm Clearhaven Partners since May 2021.
For more than a decade, Wowza has been renowned for its reliable, scalable streaming software, which powers some of the most sophisticated and mission-critical video platforms and services around the world. Wowza continues to set the standard for reliable, scaled streaming. Trusted by Fortune 2000 companies, mid-market businesses, and government organizations, Wowza enables its customers to deploy live video as a core component of their mission-critical operations. Today, more than 170,000 instances of Wowza Streaming Engine are in concurrent use, transcoding more than 30 million hours of live video per month. Wowza's customers include leading organizations across more than 130 countries. Customers span multiple industries including technology companies such as Sony, Amazon, Google, Johnson Controls and Tata, sports and entertainment companies such as Bally's Interactive, Formula One and McLaren, educational institutions such as Stanford University and Brown University, faith organizations such as EWTN and government institutions such as the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Transportation, among many other enterprises and institutions.
"It's a pleasure to welcome Krish as CEO of Wowza,” remarked Michelle Noon, Founder and Managing Partner of Clearhaven Partners. "Krish brings a proven track record of harnessing powerful products with large market opportunities to catalyze scalable go-to-market operations and drive accelerated growth through his customer-centric approach. Wowza's well-established position as a trusted partner to organizations who seek reliable streaming at scale for their mission-critical applications is unmatched and provides a great foundation from which Krish will lead the next chapter of the Company's growth and innovation. I look forward to partnering with Krish. I'm equally thrilled that Dave Stubenvoll will remain a Board member and continuing investor. Clearhaven and Dave have had the ideal founder-investor partnership since day one of our investment, and it is a testament to what Dave and his team built that we are, in many ways, still just beginning the journey toward Wowza's full potential.”
Kumar brings extensive experience as a technical and growth-oriented leader with a customer-first perspective. Prior to Wowza, Kumar was Chief Executive Officer of BrightEdge, a global leader in organic search, content, and digital automation, where he played a transformational role in accelerating growth and expanding its AI-driven product offerings. Prior to BrightEdge, Krish spent nearly a decade at Google, where he held multiple leadership roles, including Global Head of Enterprise Search and at X, the moonshot factory, renowned for its cutting-edge innovation. As video becomes an increasingly critical medium for communication, engagement, and decision-making in today's digital-first world, Krish brings a deep understanding of how to leverage technology to deliver impactful, scalable solutions in this rapidly evolving space.
"I am thrilled to join Wowza at such an exciting point in its journey,” said Kumar. "Dave and the Wowza team have built a strong foundation with its stellar customer base, valuable products and brand recognition, making it the go-to platform for leading businesses, institutions and the developer communities. I am eager to build on this success alongside the Wowza team. I am excited to continue to expand our market presence, collaborating closely with our customers and partners to continue to support solving their mission critical streaming needs. I am also excited to build on a history to streaming technology leadership to drive the next era of innovation for Wowza's customers. I am delighted to partner with Clearhaven and have already found strong alignment in our approach to the Wowza growth opportunity.”
"I am both proud of what we have accomplished at Wowza and humbled by the continued significance of the opportunity ahead for the Company,” said Co-Founder Dave Stubenvoll. "Krish has an exceptional track record of driving innovation and growth, and I couldn't be more excited for the era of Krish's leadership as he will drive the business to its next levels of success. I look forward to supporting him and the team in continued partnership with Clearhaven.”
About Wowza
Wowza is the worldwide leader in reliable and scalable streaming video solutions. With hundreds of thousands of instances of Wowza's industry-leading solution running across the globe since inception, Wowza powers mission-critical live and on demand video in more than 140 countries as well as serves hundreds of enterprises, including those in the Fortune 2000.
As a long-standing expert leader in live streaming, Wowza offers unparalleled reliability and scalability, market-leading transcoding, high quality video playback, content and workflow management, video monetization, and end-to-end analytics for a wide variety of use cases. www.wowza.com
About Clearhaven Partners LP
Clearhaven Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in software and technology businesses. Clearhaven was founded in 2019 by an investor-operator team to partner with differentiated, growing software and technology companies. Clearhaven brings a collective 50+ years of software investing and operating experience to its portfolio companies through its partnership approach to value creation to help companies scale profitably. Clearhaven manages more than $1 billion in assets under management as of 9/30/24. Visit us at www.clearhavenpartners.com.
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