Blackbird appoints new Chief Executive Officer to lead next phase of growth

LONDON, Nov. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Blackbi d plc (AIM: BIRD), the tech ology lice so , develope a d selle of the ma ket-leadi g cloud ative video editi g platfo m, Blackbi d, a d develope of the collabo ative o li e video editi g platfo m elevate.io, a ou ces that Sumit Rai has bee appoi ted as the Compa y’s Chief Executive Office , succeedi g Ia McDo ough, with effect f om 9 Novembe 2026. Ia McDo ough emai s a employee a d di ecto of the Compa y.

Sumit Rai has se ved as the Compa y’s Chief P oduct Office si ce 2022, leadi g the desig a d developme t of elevate.io. He will ow assume espo sibility fo all of the Compa y’s ope atio s a d busi esses.

Sumit Rai, Chief Executive Office of Blackbi d plc, comme ted:“I am p oud of what we have achieved with elevate.io ove the past fou yea s. We have made sig ifica t p og ess i developi g a d b i gi g the platfo m to ma ket, a d I look fo wa d to leadi g the Compa y th ough its ext phase of its g owth.”

Ia McDo ough comme ted:“I am a huge believe i Blackbi d’s tech ology a d the futu e of elevate.io. With the platfo m ow su passi g its fi st thousa d payi g use s a d achievi g sig ifica t validatio th ough ou pa t e ship with Google, we have eached a impo ta t milesto e i its developme t. We have a atu al successio i place, a d I fi mly believe Sumit is the ight leade to take the busi ess fo wa d. His deep p oduct k owledge, passio a d expe tise i the video c eatio space will be i st ume tal i d ivi g the Compa y fo wa d.”

You i Haza ov, Chai ma of Blackbi d plc, comme ted:“The Boa d fully suppo ts Sumit’s appoi tme t as Chief Executive Office . His expe ie ce a d leade ship of elevate.io positio him well to take the Compa y fo wa d.  O behalf of the Boa d, I would also like to tha k Ia McDo ough fo his leade ship a d co t ibutio to Blackbi d ove the past i e yea s as Chief Executive Office .”

elevate.io is a collabo ative, b owse -based video editi g platfo m f om Blackbi d plc, desig ed fo c eato s, ma keti g teams a d busi esses. Built o Blackbi d’s pate ted cloud video tech ology, elevate.io e ables fast, p ofessio al-quality editi g a d publishi g f om a y device with a b owse , with o dow loads a d o specialist ha dwa e equi ed.

About Blackbi d plc

Blackbi d plc ope ates i the fast-g owi g SaaS, Media a d E te tai me t a d co te t c eatio ma kets. Blackbi d plc’s pate ted tech ology allows fo f ame accu ate avigatio , playback, viewi g a d editi g i the cloud a d it has two p oducts.

Blackbi d® a ma ket leadi g suite of cloud- ative computi g applicatio s, is used by ights holde s, b oadcaste s, spo ts a d ews video specialists, live eve ts a d co te t ow e s, post p oductio houses, othe mass ma ket digital video cha els a d co po atio s.

elevate.io is the compa y’s ew o li e collabo ative co te t c eatio platfo m cu e tly i ge e al elease. elevate.io is built usi g Blackbi d’s co e tech ology a d is aimed at p ofessio al teams a d the fast g owi g C eato Eco omy. Blackbi d plc also lice ses its co e video tech ology, u de its ‘Powe ed by Blackbi d’ lice si g model, e abli g video compa ies to accele ate thei path to t ue cloud busi ess models.

www.blackbi dplc.com

www.elevate.io

Media Co tact:Ca oli e Stei e , Di ecto of Commu icatio sc.stei e @blackbi d.video 

A photo accompa yi g this a ou ceme t is available at https://www.globe ewswi e.com/NewsRoom/Attachme tNg/46d253d1-2caf-4848-9143-1195b4d594de