The investment is the first round for the private company which has produced viral advertising campaigns for the likes of T-Mobile. Unruly’s ‘roller skating babies’ video ad for Evian received millions of hits, winning an award for best visual effects at the London International Awards in 2009.

Established in the UK, Unruly’s turnover for 2011 was $25 million and the investment will be used to expand European business and to establish a presence in the Asian market.

Unruly’s distribution service, which helps to share video ads online, reaches over 700 million unique users a month.

‘In a short space of time, Unruly has played a major role in the explosive growth of social video and this investment gives it additional firepower,’ says Marion Bernard, regional director for the Business Growth Fund.

Martijn Hamann, a partner at Van den Ende & Deitmers says: ‘With global online ad spend set to reach $110 billion by 2014 and with online video ad spend predicted to be the fastest growing category, we believe Unruly is strongly positioned to be the winner in the global social video market.’

Hamann and Bernard will both join Unruly’s board of directors, together with Richard Anton, a partner at Amadeus.

Unruly CEO Scott Bunton says: ‘Today represents an important milestone for the company and we’re delighted such a distinguished group of investors share our conviction.’