• Minute Media

  Participated · Equity · Feb 2020

  Minute Media operates a user-generated, syndication-based publishing platform that powers multiple mostly-sports media properties. It runs a centralized open CMS that has hosted as many as 20,000 contributors and publishes under 1,000 curated pieces per day across its sites. Its holdings include 90min.com, FanSided, The Players’ Tribune, Mental Floss, 12up, DBLTAP and The Big Lead. Revenue is roughly split between advertising and licensing/syndication (around 50/50), and the company grew about 100% last year and is on track for $200 million in revenue this year. Minute Media plans to use new capital to invest in its publishing platform, invest in properties it already owns and make further acquisitions. The company describes itself as based in New York; its founding team are from Israel and it grew initially in London, where its CEO currently lives. Minute Media operates a user-generated sports content platform that aggregates articles and videos from roughly 5,000 contributors and distributes them via its own sites and partner brands. Its network of sites draws about 80–90 million monthly users, with flagship 90min alone attracting roughly 60 million monthly visitors. Video is a growing area with approximately 200 million video views per month, while licensing content to partners (Sports Illustrated, MSN, ProSieben, Yahoo Sports) accounts for about one-third of revenue. The company ingests 4,000–5,000 pieces of content daily and publishes roughly 1,000 items after curation; all contributors are paid. Minute Media is headquartered in London, traces its engineering roots to Israel, and employs about 180 people, roughly 80 of whom are engineers. The startup plans to use new capital to expand into markets such as China and to begin exploring content beyond sports; it has raised $77 million to date and completed a $17 million Series F in the current round. Minute Media is a fan-driven sports media and technology company that enables fans to create, publish, share and distribute sports content across a family of destinations including 90min and 12up. Its platform delivers over 20,000 pieces of original, socially-driven and curated editorial in 11 languages to users in more than 200 countries. The company grew monthly users from 30 million to 70 million over the last 12 months, earning prominent comScore positions in the US, UK and other top global media markets. Minute Media plans to expand into key global markets ahead of the 2018 World Cup, introduce several new sports brands and launch an esports brand, while enlarging editorial and commercial teams. The new $15 million growth round, bringing total funding to $60 million, will support development in existing and new offices including London, New York, Tel Aviv, Manila, São Paulo, Singapore and Tokyo. Founded in late 2011, the company is backed by venture firms and strategic investors such as Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital, Gemini Ventures, North Base Media, ProSieben and Qumra Capital. 90min is a contributor-driven football media platform that relies largely on unpaid, volunteer writers to produce large volumes of fan-created content. The site publishes what it says are 4-500 pieces of original content daily and attracts about 30 million unique users per month across Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. The company emphasizes a technology-first approach to enable large-scale content creation in 10 languages and across rich formats and devices. 90min competes with mainstream sports publishers as well as digital-first brands like Bleacher Report and SB Nation, but differentiates itself by remaining an open platform for fan contributors and allowing publishers to auto-embed its content. The recent funding will support growth and a strategic push into new markets via a partnership with a European media owner.

• Wochit

  Participated · Equity · Oct 2016

  Wochit is a social video creation platform that enables newsrooms, media companies and brands to create socially-optimized videos at scale. Led by co-founder and CEO Dror Ginzberg, the platform offers cloud-based editing tools, native uploads, and access to rights-cleared assets from AP, Reuters, Getty, Bloomberg and others. Users worldwide include Time Inc., Daily News, USA Today, Gannett, AOL, The Week, ProSieben, Singapore Straits Times, Die Welt and Der Spiegel. The company received a strategic investment from PA Group; the amount of the deal was not disclosed. The investment is intended to fund development of new tools and features to enhance Wochit’s technology and to support global expansion. Wochit is backed by Redpoint Ventures, Marker LLC, Greycroft Partners, Cedar Fund, ProSieben, Singapore Press Holdings’ SPH Media Fund and Carlo de Benedetti, and maintains offices in London and Tel Aviv. Wochit provides a cloud-based platform that automates production of timely, socially-optimized short-form video, pairing newsroom workflows with a large library of pre-licensed assets from agencies such as AP, Reuters, Getty and Bloomberg. Its tools target newsrooms, media companies and brands, enabling faster production around trending topics. Worldwide media brands including Time Inc., Daily News, USA Today, Gannett, AOL, The Week, ProSieben, Singapore Straits Times, Die Welt and Der Spiegel use the platform. Led by co-founder and CEO Dror Ginzberg, the company aims to expand its business with publishers and content creators worldwide. The company plans to use the newly raised capital to further enhance its technology and global expansion efforts. Wochit is based in New York City and also maintains offices in London and Tel Aviv. Wochit provides a text-to-video platform that uses natural-language search to spider articles, pull fully licensed content, and generate scripts to create videos. The company offers end-to-end video production for a per-video fee and takes a cut of ad revenue, while also offering a self-service mode for publishers seeking editorial control. Wochit coordinates human voice-over talent (reported turnaround of two-to-three minutes) and operates branded channels for general and entertainment news. High-profile customers include Forbes, AOLOn, The Chicago Tribune, and Yahoo. The company relocated its headquarters to New York from Israel to be closer to media clients. Wochit raised $11 million in new financing and had previously raised $4.75 million in May 2013. The new capital will be used to expand sales and business development, improve the product, and build out the engineering team. Wochit provides a platform that leverages technology and production expertise to create real-time news videos that publishers can select and integrate based on topical relevance. The company serves websites, mobile applications, news organizations, blogs and other publishing entities. It plans to use the new capital to accelerate sales and roll out initiatives that organize content by channels on particular subjects, which customers can embed as automatically refreshed feeds. The product emphasis is on quickly producing topical video tailored to audience interests. Wochit is led by co-founder and CEO Dror Ginzberg and CTO Ran Oz. The company is based in New York and Tel Aviv and recently closed a fresh institutional financing.

• Pluto TV

  Led · Series B · Oct 2016

  Pluto TV operates a free, advertising-supported streaming service featuring over 100 live channels and on-demand content. The service has partnerships with TV networks, movie studios, publishers and digital media companies, and announced more than 40 content deals in the year cited. Pluto TV is available online, on mobile devices and a range of living-room platforms including Samsung Smart TVs, Roku, Apple TV, PlayStation and Xbox. It reaches about 6 million active viewers per month and generates revenue through advertising. The company has been expanding content and distribution, previously using a $30M Series B to help fuel European expansion. Management has emphasized strategic partnerships with platform owners such as Samsung while continuing to grow its content and distribution footprint. Pluto TV replicates a linear TV experience online by providing a TV‑guide‑like interface that lets users tune into hundreds of channels rather than offering on‑demand catalogs. The service targets cord cutters and aggregates content through more than 75 partnerships with networks, studios, publishers and digital media companies including Sky, NBC, A&E, CBSi, Bloomberg and Paramount. It has distribution deals and preinstalls (such as on Xiaomi Mi Box) and is available on Vizio Cast, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and PlayStation 3/4. Pluto TV acquired Berlin‑based Quazer to establish an immediate presence in Germany and now has a team of about 50. The company reports over 5 million monthly active users, up from 500,000 in Q1 2015, and generates revenue through advertising sold via content and device partners and programmatic channels; monetization began less than a year ago and executives declined to disclose detailed financials. It plans to use new funding to invest in product, content and marketing and to expand further into Europe with the goal of becoming a global destination for free television. Pluto TV operates a free, ad-supported video platform that aggregates online and traditional content into themed, 24/7 channels. The service organizes content into categories such as music, sports, news, entertainment, comedy, lifestyle, tech, art & culture, education and kids. The platform features over 100 channels available for free on any device and is accessible via iOS and Android apps, web, and connected-TV options including Amazon Fire TV, Google Nexus Player & Chromecast and Apple AirPlay. Led by co-founder and CEO Tom Ryan, Pluto TV aims to broaden its content offering and expand availability across web, mobile and connected TVs. The company announced it will use the new funding to continue growing the platform and increase distribution and content breadth. Pluto.TV is an online television platform that aggregates web video and programs it into themed TV channels. Led by CEO Tom Ryan and based in Los Angeles, CA, the company combines technology, data and a team of specialist editors to build channels spanning music, news, sports, comedy, entertainment and niche interests. The service is available in the U.S. across iOS, Android, Google Chromecast, Amazon Kindle Fire, Fire TV and the web. Pluto.TV raised $500K in funding from BSkyB (BSY). The investment is intended to give Sky insight into emerging content trends while allowing Pluto.TV to leverage Sky’s experience in packaging and promoting content.

• Wrap Media

  Led · Series B · Sep 2015

  Wrap Media is a mobile-first storytelling and commerce platform that delivers app-like user experiences in bite-sized pieces through the mobile web, positioning itself as the 'Narrative Web' native app alternative. The platform aims to increase engagement, activation and conversion for brands, publishers and digital businesses. Customers include Communicorp One, Digicel Group, Gannett, Lover.ly and Trend Media. Founded in 2014 by CEO Eric Greenberg, the company has raised $27.7M in total funding to date. Wrap Media said it will use the additional capital to expand operations and has recently expanded its leadership team with hires including Kristine Shine as Chief Growth Officer, Anne Driscoll as Chief Marketing Officer and James Donelan as SVP of Engineering & Operations. Wrap Media offers a mobile publishing product called "wraps" that lets users build interactive, app-like mobile experiences faster and cheaper than native apps and simpler to navigate than responsive sites. Wraps can include video, e-commerce, geolocation, and customer support features and can be embedded in webpages or sent as web links. The company positions its editor as "as simple as making a PowerPoint" and cites examples such as a Salesforce CRM handbook built as a wrap. Facebook Canvas is noted as a rival but limited to Facebook's walled garden, while Wrap Media runs anywhere a web link or webpage operates. Wrap plans to use the new funding to grow its business in Japan and to target Japanese brands seeking higher mobile engagement without building native apps. Financially, this round brings Wrap Media's total funding to $25.2 million, following a Series A announced in April 2015 prior to its public launch. Wrap provides a template-driven platform that lets advertisers and organizations create highly interactive, bite-sized mobile web apps without code. The product exited private beta and launched publicly as a mobile storytelling and commerce platform aimed at replacing short-lived native apps. Pricing is tiered, starting at $100 per month for small businesses and scaling to several thousand dollars per month for larger corporations; free accounts are offered for non-commercial content. The company recently hired Peter Foster, former Yahoo VP, as Chief Revenue Officer to help drive commercial growth. Leadership says the new funds will be used to optimize product features, grow the team and expand go-to-market efforts. Wrap has raised $18.7 million in total funding to date. Wrap Media provides a web-based authoring tool that lets companies create app-like, card-based “wraps” for mobile marketing without code or design experience. Wraps are swipeable, embeddable experiences that can include video and links and be shared via email, SMS, and social networks. The product is delivered initially over the mobile web but the company plans to serve these experiences from any screen, including phones and potentially living-room TVs. Wrap targets both small-business and enterprise customers; pricing is expected to start around $300–$500/month per user for SMBs while enterprise pricing is higher and transactional options exist. The company is in private beta, has about a half-dozen named customers (including CBS Interactive, Loverly, and StumbleUpon) and is in discussions with roughly 50 other companies. Founder Eric Greenberg previously built other startups and seeded Wrap with his own capital; the company plans a public release in September.

No current team members are available.