Recently, Netflix had its first drop in US users in nearly a decade. The streaming giant’s subscriber base fell by 130,000 in the US– the first drop since 2011 according to the Wall Street Journal. Netflix has always been an expert at playing the long game (remember when they used to ship you DVDs?), but […]
Media
Squarespace Acquires Social Stories Platform Unfold
Squarespace has acquired Unfold, the app for creating engaging stories for Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “Unfold and Squarespace share the same DNA and vision for empowering creators. Together, we’ll continue to rethink how people share stories to connect and inspire. We couldn’t be more excited for this new […]
Musk is Wrong, We’re Not Already Cyborgs
Neuralink proposes to transcend reality and make virtual experiences feel totally real. How will Elon Musk’s neuralink challenge subjectivity?
Quantity Can Be The Gateway Quality: A New Way To Think About Content
The more content you put out for more audience demographics and segments, the more you can really understand what they respond to and refine what you’re putting out based on actual data – instead of only depending on the subjective opinions of decision-makers.
Where We Are Investing Now: E-Sports and Digital News
Each year, our funds define specific areas of investment focus for the year. We then do a mid-year review of each of these and adjust our approach if necessary. Most often, this mid-year correction is modest, just a tweak or lane change. But this summer, we felt that changes in our immersive experiences and content […]
TCG Buys Majority Stake in Food52 Valuing it at Over $100M
Food52, the content and commerce destination for those interested in cooking and food that has an active community of over 16M, has been acquired by TCG Capital Management, an affiliate of The Chernin Group, the media holding company founded by broadcast executive Peter Chernin in 2009. The exact terms of the transaction were not disclosed […]
Write Label is the Crowdsourced Platform That Connects Brands with On-Demand Writers
More than one-third of Americans are active participants in the gig economy, and according to an Upwork survey of 6,000 people, 64 percent of freelancers found work online. Write Label, the crowdsourced platform for short-form writing, is strategically positioned to connect the best creative writers with potential projects that include ad scripts, social media campaigns, […]
This NYC Startup Makes Everyone Capable of Creating a Professional How-To Video
How-to videos are more popular than ever and Instagram Stories and Snapchat has made How-to videos a preferred medium to learn and teach new things. NYC startup Jumprope‘s platform empowers people to create how-to videos through a unique step-by-step format that allows anyone to build an informational how-to video without any previous video editing or specialized skills. […]
TodayTix Raises Another $73M to Bring Broadway to Your Fingertips in Less Than 30 Seconds
TodayTix has become synonymous with Broadway and for good reason. This six-year-old NYC startup is responsible for selling 8% of all Broadway tickets. The design and data-centric platform is being used to discover and purchase discounted tickets for the hottest shows in major cities that include London, Los Angeles, and Sydney. Already used by 5 […]
Cheddar Acquired By Altice USA for $200M in Cash
Cheddar, the digital-first video news network, has been acquired by Altice USA, the US unit of Dutch cable provider Altice, for $200M in an all-cash transaction. Altice USA was formed when Altice acquired Optimum from Cablevision. Altice had been a distribution partner for, and investor in, Cheddar. “The Altice team and Altice Way are as […]
Bustle Digital Group Acquires The Outline in its Latest String of Acquisitions
Bryan Goldberg and Bustle have scooped up The Outline, a digital news publication launched in 2016 by Joshua Topolosky. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but all signs point to this being an acquihire as The Outline shed the majority of its staff in the Fall of 2018.