Blinkx IPO shares soar to near-record debut

Shares of the video search company blinkx (ticker: BLNX), the largest video search engine on the web, soared on London’s Alternative Investment Market on its first day of trading. Blinkx shares jumped 40% in a single day by close – from 45 pence to 65 pence – increasing its market cap to £180 million/$355 million.

For more information on blinkx’s success with its IPO – and its growing plans and expectations – I recently interviewed a source close to the company.

Crowell: How does this debut IPO rank compared to other companies?

blinkx: We are being told that blinkx’s performance is the second best debut in the last two years, on any exchange, UK or U.S.

Crowell: What does blinkx foresee as the benefits of its strong public showing in the stock market?

blinkx: The success of the IPO reflects a general acceptance that Web is moving from a text-based medium to a network for audio and video. The proof points are there: broadband is essentially ubiquitous, which means that content providers are eager to get their video on the web and monetize it; advertisers are quickly embracing the power of online video advertising; and finally, people are fundamentally changing the way they watch TV, consuming more and more news and entertainment online.

Crowell: Blinkx has often said that their unique technology has given them a tremendous lead on other video search engines. With the new money generated from the IPO, what are blinkx’s plans for further developing its technology, and expanding its presence?

blinkx: The benefit of the money that we raised yesterday is that we can now expand our sales and development teams, and increase our presence in the industry… Blinkx has now signed deals with 130 media companies, and has indexed more than 12 million hours of video. … We also have plans to announce a broadband tv product later this year.