Dacast
Dacast is a privately held online video platform that provides live streaming, video-on-demand hosting, and built-in monetization for professional broadcasters, enterprises, media companies, churches, sports organizations, and developers, serving approximately 15,000 clients via a multi-CDN infrastructure with REST and SDK APIs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Dacast does
Dacast is a privately held, end-to-end online video platform (OVP) that provides live streaming and video-on-demand hosting, monetization, and distribution infrastructure for professional broadcasters, enterprises, and content owners. The platform supports ingest via RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, and WebRTC, with adaptive bitrate HLS delivery across a multi-CDN backbone (AWS, Akamai, Linode) and a THEOplayer-based HTML5 player; a REST Video API, Player API, and iOS/Android SDKs expose the full feature set programmatically, including an MCP server for AI agent integration. A Video CMS, cloud transcoding, multi-bitrate streaming, geo/domain restrictions, DRM, AES encryption, and forensic watermarking round out the core technology stack. The company also operates specialized delivery into mainland China and localized sites in Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
Dacast monetizes primarily through tiered monthly and annual subscription plans starting at $39/month, supplemented by usage-based add-ons for bandwidth, storage, transcoding, and simulcast minutes, plus a pay-per-view paywall with integrated payment processing (InPlayer, Stripe, PayPal). A freemium 14-day trial with 10 GB bandwidth drives self-serve acquisition, while an enterprise field-sales motion handles larger accounts; subscriptions are billed through Recurly. Customer segments span sports broadcasters, corporate enterprises, media and entertainment, churches and houses of worship, event production agencies, educational institutions, government and municipalities, non-profits, creative agencies, musicians, fitness operators, and TV/radio stations, served by a headcount of 11-50 employees out of Alameda, California (with a San Francisco contact address and Beijing operations office) and reported scale of approximately 15,000 active clients across more than a decade of operation.
Commercially, the company has assembled a layered partnership stack (THEOplayer, InPlayer, Recurly, Stripe, PayPal, Salesforce, Pardot, Zendesk, Google Data Studio) and holds SOC 2 Type 2 availability commitments alongside GDPR and CCPA compliance. No outside funding rounds are disclosed, and the legal entity is DACAST, LLC, governed under California law. Vertical-specific solutions, regional language support, and developer-facing APIs suggest continued investment in product breadth and international reach rather than a narrow specialization.
Dacast firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Dacast
- Legal name
- DACAST, LLC
- Website
- https://dacast.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Dacast is a privately held online video platform that provides live streaming, video-on-demand hosting, and built-in monetization for professional broadcasters, enterprises, media companies, churches, sports organizations, and developers, serving approximately 15,000 clients via a multi-CDN infrastructure with REST and SDK APIs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Dacast industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Video Platform
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Enterprise/Creator Video Hosting & OTT SaaS Platforms (MPACAAAL)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Live Streaming & Webcasting Platforms (BPAMAJAB)
Keywords
Where Dacast is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Dacast business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Subscription Plans: Monthly or annual subscription plans for streaming services. Plans run for 12 months with automatic renewal. Pricing starts at $39/month for basic plans with higher tiers offering more bandwidth, storage, and features.
- Extra Data Add-ons: Prepaid data consumption add-ons for users exceeding their plan's bandwidth allocation.
- Extra Storage Capacity: Additional storage for VOD content beyond plan limits.
- Extra Transcoding: Additional transcoding processing beyond included allowances.
- Extra Simulcast Minutes: Additional multi-destination streaming minutes for simulcasting to multiple platforms.
- Pay-Per-View Paywall: Monetization service allowing content creators to sell individual events or access to viewers. Built-in payment processing with payout scheduling.
- Playback Protection: Additional security features for premium content protection.
- SFTP/Cloud Upload: Bulk video upload services via SFTP for efficient content management.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Entry-level professional streaming plan starting at $39/month |
| Subscription | Annual | Professional plans with annual billing option |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free trial with 14 days access |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Dacast product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Dacast provides a unified, cloud-based online video platform that enables businesses and organizations to host, broadcast, monetize, and distribute live and video-on-demand (VOD) content. The offering combines live streaming, VOD hosting, a built-in paywall supporting TVOD/AVOD/SVOD models, white-label HTML5 playback, and developer APIs and SDKs, delivered over a multi-CDN backbone with global reach including China-specific delivery.
Product overview
Dacast is a unified, end-to-end online video platform combining live streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) capabilities. The platform architecture centers on a core Live Streaming Platform and Online Video Platform (OVP), with an Over-the-Top (OTT) Platform for multi-device distribution. These core products are enhanced by an HTML5 Video Player, Video Content Management System (CMS), Video Monetization (supporting TVOD, AVOD, and SVOD), Video Analytics, and CDN-based delivery. Developer access is provided through a Video API and Player API, plus mobile SDKs (iOS/Android). Vertical-specific solutions include Live Events Streaming, Sports Broadcasting, Enterprise Video, Church Streaming, and Education/e-Learning platforms. The platform supports multiple streaming protocols including RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, WebRTC, and HLS, with cloud-based transcoding and secure video upload capabilities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Live Streaming Platform Professional live video streaming platform supporting RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, and WebRTC ingest protocols with built-in pay-per-view monetization, cloud transcoding, and enterprise-grade security for broadcasters and organizations.
- Online Video Platform (OVP) Video hosting and management platform enabling upload, transcoding, organization, and global delivery of on-demand video content for businesses and content creators.
- Over-the-Top (OTT) Platform End-to-end OTT broadcasting solution for distributing video content across all devices including mobile apps, smart TVs, and web with integrated monetization and global delivery.
- Video on Demand (VOD) On-demand video hosting service for uploading, storing, managing, and delivering recorded video content with full content control, security, and player customization.
- Video API REST API enabling programmatic access to all platform features including VOD upload, live stream channel creation, embed codes management, splash screens, thumbnails, and playlist management for building custom video applications.
- Player API API for controlling and customizing the video player behavior, appearance, and functionality for white-label deployments and integration into custom applications.
- Mobile SDKs (iOS and Android) Native software development kits for iOS and Android that enable developers to build custom mobile video streaming applications powered by the Dacast platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- 10+ years providing streaming services to 15,000+ clients
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Dacast
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments13 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Dacast technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
Feature10 records
Dacast partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreAWS provides operational data infrastructure for Dacast's streaming services. Dacast uses AWS cloud infrastructure as part of its multi-CDN operational backbone for delivering video content globally.
- AkamaicoreAkamai provides CDN (Content Delivery Network) services as part of Dacast's multi-CDN infrastructure for global content delivery and streaming optimization.
- InPlayercoreInPlayer provides paywall services enabling Dacast customers to monetize content through pay-per-view and subscription models with integrated payment processing.
- THEOplayercoreTHEOplayer powers Dacast's HTML5 video player technology, providing the foundation for cross-device compatibility and video playback capabilities.
- RecurlysupportingRecurly handles subscription billing management for Dacast's recurring payment processing and subscription plan renewals.
- StripesupportingStripe provides payment processing services for Dacast's billing operations and transaction handling.
- PayPalsupportingPayPal enables alternative payment processing and facilitates customer payouts for Dacast's paywall monetization services.
- SalesforcesupportingSalesforce provides customer relationship management capabilities for Dacast's sales and customer communication processes.
- PardotsupportingPardot supports marketing automation and email marketing campaigns for customer engagement and lead nurturing.
- ZendesksupportingZendesk provides customer service and support ticketing capabilities for Dacast's 24/7 technical support operations.
- Google Data StudiosupportingGoogle Data Studio enables data analytics and reporting capabilities for internal business intelligence and service improvement.
- LinodesupportingLinode provides cloud infrastructure services as part of Dacast's operational technology stack.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Dacast competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kaltura: Video platform serving enterprises, education, and media with live, VOD, and OTT capabilities. Targets similar verticals to Dacast (especially e-learning and enterprise) and competes on API extensibility and white-label deployment.
- Mux: API-first video platform for developers offering live streaming and video on demand with a strong developer-experience focus. Competes with Dacast's API/SDK proposition, particularly with engineering-led customers.
- Wowza Streaming Engine: Streaming infrastructure provider for live and on-demand video, used by broadcasters and developers. Overlaps Dacast on RTMP/SRT ingest, transcoding, and custom streaming workflows, often at the developer/integrator layer.
- JWP (formerly JW Player): Online video platform combining a leading HTML5 player, live streaming, VOD, and monetization. Closely mirrors Dacast's product mix, including THEOplayer-era player technology and OTT offerings.
- Vimeo OTT (formerly VHX): Vimeo's OTT arm provides end-to-end SVOD/TVOD monetization and branded streaming apps for creators and media companies — overlapping Dacast's monetization and OTT stack with a larger creator ecosystem.
- Brightcove: Publicly traded online video platform offering live streaming, VOD, OTT, and monetization for enterprise and media customers. Directly competes with Dacast across nearly the entire product surface, with a heavier enterprise orientation.
Emerging players
- Panopto: Enterprise video platform focused on knowledge sharing, training, and education use cases. Competes with Dacast's enterprise and e-learning verticals via deeper LMS integrations and AI-powered search.
- api.video: Developer-centric video API for live and on-demand streaming with a usage-based pricing model. Emerging challenger competing with Dacast's API product for developer-led integrations.
Regional players
- StreamGo: UK-based live and on-demand streaming platform with built-in monetization and event-focused features. Comparable offering to Dacast for live events and webinars, primarily serving European customers.
Broad incumbents
- IBM Watson Media (IBM Video Streaming): IBM's enterprise video streaming offering including live broadcasting, VOD, and AI-powered analytics. Broad incumbent competing in enterprise and regulated segments where Dacast also plays.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses1 record
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Dacast social profiles
Digital presenceDacast compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Dacast financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Dacast leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Dacast funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Dacast M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Dacast
What does Dacast do?
Dacast provides a unified, cloud-based online video platform that enables businesses and organizations to host, broadcast, monetize, and distribute live and video-on-demand (VOD) content. The offering combines live streaming, VOD hosting, a built-in paywall supporting TVOD/AVOD/SVOD models, white-label HTML5 playback, and developer APIs and SDKs, delivered over a multi-CDN backbone with global reach including China-specific delivery.
Is Dacast a public or private company?
Dacast is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Dacast founded?
Dacast was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Dacast based?
Dacast is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Dacast make money?
Eight revenue lines are on record. Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are extra Data Add-ons, extra Storage Capacity, extra Transcoding, extra Simulcast Minutes, pay-Per-View Paywall, playback Protection and SFTP/Cloud Upload.
Who are Dacast's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kaltura, Mux, Wowza Streaming Engine, JWP (formerly JW Player), Vimeo OTT (formerly VHX) and Brightcove. Emerging players are Panopto and api.video. StreamGo is listed as a regional player. IBM Watson Media (IBM Video Streaming) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Dacast have an API?
Yes. Dacast provides a REST API accessible at https://developer.dacast.com. The API allows developers to programmatically access all platform features including VOD upload, live stream channel creation, embed codes management, splash screens/thumbnails, and playlists. Authentication uses API keys via X-Api-Key header. The platform also offers a Player API for controlling video player behavior, and SDKs for iOS and Android mobile development. MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is available for AI agent integration as indicated on the support knowledgebase. Developer documentation is at docs.dacast.com/docs.
What industry is Dacast in?
Dacast's product category is Online Video Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAAAL, Enterprise/Creator Video Hosting & OTT SaaS Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMAJAB, Live Streaming & Webcasting Platforms. Its NAICS code is 516210 and its SIC code is 7372.