Israeli startup StreamElements, which has developed a production platform for live-streaming, has announced that it has raised $11.3 million in Series A funding. The financing round was led by Pitango Venture Capital and previous investors State of Mind Ventures, Rainfall VC, Samsung Next and others.
StreamElements has grown its user base by 600% over the past year and its production platform for live-streaming is now used by more than 200,000 live channels on Twitch and YouTube Live. Donations to streamers grew to $15 million and $1 million delivered through brand partnerships. Based on the company’s current growth trajectory, StreamElements expects creator revenue to exceed $40 million in 2019 alone. By the end of 2019, StreamElements predicts that it will become the dominant streamer production platform on Twitch.
The company’s growth is due to its position in the industry as a full-stack solution built to address the key components of helping streamers earn fame and fortune:
StreamElements was founded in 2017 by Chief Streamer Office Or Perry, CEO Doron Nir and Chairman Gil Hirsch and has offices in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv.
Nir said, "Since our launch 18 months ago we proved that a full stack production and revenue generation platform is what live-streaming and e-sports really needs. This new funding round shows what people in our industry already know - this is the next frontier for online media. Its growing faster than anything we’ve seen, and the level of passion of the audience is unparalleled to anything else video entertainment has to offer."
Perry added, "Live video content creators are some of the hardest working people in showbiz. They have massive audiences, huge followings, yet they make less than 20% of their true revenue potential. We are here to close this gap and help these talented creators materialize their full potential with our extraordinary level of service and the best production tools on the market."
StreamElements and its creator community partnered on successful marketing campaigns with companies like Red Bull, Sennheiser, Warner Brothers, Trojan, 7-11 and more. With this new funding, StreamElements is growing its global Brand Partnership team and is announcing the hire of Scott Clark as SVP, Head of Brand Partnership.
Clark said, "Brands are struggling to reach Millennials and Gen Z consumers through traditional advertising. This group represents major buying power and cultural authority, yet ad blocking is high, cable subscriptions are low, and media is extremely fragmented. Live streaming content, particularly in gaming and eSports, is fast becoming the entertainment vehicle of choice. By partnering with live streamers and their communities, brands see tremendous value and impact, well beyond that of traditional digital media and influencer marketing."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 25, 2019
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