Israeli sports global media publishing platform Minute Media has announced that it has raised $17 million in a Series F funding round that includes new investors Goldman Sachs, La Maison, Vintage Investment Partners, Remagine Ventures and Kreos Capital, and its existing investors Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital, Gemini Israel Ventures, North Base Media, ProSieben and Qumra Capital. This brings Minute Media’s total funding to $77 million.
Minute Media has created a digital publishing platform that empowers sports fans to create, publish and distribute thousands of pieces of content each day around the world. By enabling fans to become both the content creator and consumer, the company has introduced a new perspective that goes beyond the traditional sports newsroom. Minute Media uses this proprietary technology and digital product platform to drive content and media solutions for its own properties in addition to the licensing of the full stack to other publishers and digital brands, allowing them to easily create and distribute innovative content at scale. This has resulted in partnerships with dozens of third party publishers and brands including Sports Illustrated, USA Today Sports Media Group, MSN, ProSieben and Horizon Media.
The Tel Aviv company was founded by CEO Asaf Peled, Gili Beiman and Yuval Larom in 2012 and currently employs 180 people in markets including New York, Los Angeles, London, Tel Aviv, Singapore, Tokyo, Manila and Sao Paolo.
Peled said, "Unlike traditional players in our industry, our tech driven approach to publishing has been key to our growth during such challenging times in digital media. We are clearly cemented at the intersection of platforms, publishers and communities. The new funding enables us to leverage this differentiated approach to efficiently scale into new markets and content verticals."
Minute Media operates three sports media brands powered by its proprietary technology platform, including 90min, the world’s leading global football publisher, DBLTAP, the esports brand focused on stories beyond the stage and 12up, the US sports brand living at the intersection of sports and pop culture. Combined, Minute Media’s properties reach more than 80 million monthly owned and operated unique users and offer original content in 12 different languages.
The company’s revenue increased 130% from 2016 to 2017 driven by a substantial investment into technology diversification and the launch of several mobile web product solutions and that upward trend is expected to continue in 2018.
Goldman Sachs managing director Aaron Siegel said, "The team at Minute Media is rewriting the playbook for sports media. Their focus on product, fan empowerment and global scale are key differentiating ingredients in the sector. We look forward to being a part of the continued growth."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 15, 2018
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