Rumors of Brightcove IPO Intensify After Latest Hire

TechCrunch reports Brightcove may be preparing an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of 2011.

The rumor has its share of the truth after Brightcove has bolstered is management team in recent months with new personnel, all with previous experience in these kind of operations.

The company's latest hire, Chief Financial Officer Chris Menard, former member of Phase Forward, a middle size software company is just one of the many executives Brightcove brought in lately in its staff.

Mr. Menard managed the sell of Phase Forward to Oracle last year for the staggering sum of $685 million, not before going through an IPO and managing six other acquisitions.

Menard will join the so-called Macromedia Club at Brightcove, a group of former staff members at Macromedia that helped the company grow right before Adobe moved in for the acquisition.

The team includes CEO Jeremy Allaire (worked at Macromedia), President David Mendels (worked at Adobe until January 2010 when he came to Brightcove) and board member Betsey Nelson (former Macromedia CFO).

Besides the aforemention executives, Brightcove previously hired a new senior VP of Sales for  North America (Paul Goetz), and a new VP in charge of its growing Asia-Pacific market (Dennis Rose).

After flaunting a 50% rise in year-to-year revenue, company officials have expressed much interest in the global online video delivery market.

With Google, Akamai, ComCast and Microsoft ruling the sector, the presumed IPO money are expected to go in new acquisitions to expand Brightcove's market share.

This is a total turn-around after earlier this year numerous rumors had Brightcove as a sure Google acquisition by the end of the year.

The current executive staff put into place in recent months has all the credentials to get not only the IPO done, but expand Brightcove's horizon with new companies and technologies, enough not only to avoid succumbing to its rivals, but give them a run at their money.