(Source: Business Wire)Amadeus Capital Partners and Wellington Partners have invested $18 million in a Series B round financing in EnQii Holdings Ltd, a global leader in the management of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising and merchandising networks. Roy Merritt, Partner at Amadeus, and Wellington General Partner, Frank Boehnke, will join the board of the company. The investors will join Ithmaar Bank, Kingdom of Bahrain, EnQii's original investor. Carolyn Prowse, Managing Director, from Ithmaar Bank will also join the board.

EnQii works in partnership with advertising networks and retailers, providing a full managed service of design, installation, technology and operation of web-enabled digital displays. The company has over 100 customers in 14 countries around the world, who typically operate substantial estates of screens ranging from large LED or digital billboards to smaller shelf-located screens in retail environments. The new financing will be used to accelerate the company's growth.

Advertising spend on out-of-home sites is currently some $1.7 billion globally, with the digital segment, which is proven to drive sales faster than traditional advertising, growing at some 40% per annum.

EnQii CEO, Ajay Chowdhury, says: "We see fantastic growth opportunities in digital out-of-home advertising and are very happy to see this significant commitment from two of Europe's leading VCs that will help us take full advantage of these opportunities. While we have had very strong organic growth over the last year, this level of investment and the quality of the investors gives us the additional capacity to be more aggressive in both opportunity development and in serving our customers' needs. The roll-out of digital screens at places of interest has just begun, and EnQii has the capability, from our offices in New York, Toronto, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, to manage this."

Roy Merritt of Amadeus adds: "EnQii's business model is to combine its leading-edge technology platform with a real understanding of customer needs, helping its clients to maximise their revenues and building deep and long-lasting relationships. We believe that EnQii's outstanding management team is well-placed to build on its already strong global market position, and are delighted to support them in doing that."

Frank Boehnke from Wellington Partners stresses the market opportunity: "Digital merchandising at the point-of-sale is a highly efficient way of communicating with customers for advertisers and retailers. Therefore, the installed base of DOOH screens wills more than triple in the next three years.