πŸ““

3. Intro to Creator Investing

**Scroll Down**

Internet Basics

πŸ““Online Commodities

How HTTPS works

Consumer and Creator

πŸ““1. Creator = ConsumerπŸ““2. The Active ConsumerπŸ““3. β€œCreator-GTMβ€πŸ““3.A. Where the Viral Things AreπŸ““4. The Anonymous EconomyπŸ““5. Pre-founder: People-focused investing

NonTechnicals

πŸ““5.A. NontechnicalsπŸ““5.B. β€œCleanupβ€πŸ““5.C. Content is Eating the World

Creator Studies

πŸ““1. Intro to Creator StudiesπŸ““2. Intro to Creator PolicyπŸ““3. Intro to Creator InvestingπŸ““4. A Spectrum of InfluenceπŸ““5. Influencing InfluencersπŸ““6. The History of the Creator Economy [working]πŸͺŸ2. View: Research

Investment

πŸ““Total Content Market (TCM)/Content TAM (C-TAM)πŸ““Not Real FoundersπŸ““Revisiting Community InvestingπŸ““Rethinking Consumer LTVπŸ““β€œOrganic” = unpaid?πŸ““Introducing: On-Page Collaboration, LiveWriting, anti-Press PublishπŸ““VC Managers: Finding your styleπŸ““Women’s Consumer (2022)πŸ““The β€œonline” button

Translation

πŸ““β€œGenZβ€πŸ““Directory

Personal Journal

πŸ““An intro to Personal JournalπŸ““Advice for a Y1/Y2 woman in VCπŸ““Advice for a Y3 woman in VC πŸ““My love letter to JournalistsπŸ““Women and Wikipedia πŸ““β€œPedigreeβ€πŸ““β€œContextβ€πŸ““β€œLeversβ€πŸ““β€œExamplesβ€πŸ““Me & PaulπŸ““Very Specific AdviceπŸ““Why I dropped outπŸ““How to be JealousπŸ““Content vs. Journalism
β€£
Personal Investment Stuff
β€£
Freshman Year
β€£
Old Stuff

Β© EM 2024

So Not Done

An intro to Creator Financing & Investing

How I like it… and how other people like it.

Co-investors

This β€” I’m not too sure yet. Could be traditional VCs… could be ex-media funds. To be helpful here’s a list of media funds:

Media Funds [2023]

Fund NameDescriptionTypes of InvestmentsInvestment TagsPartner Leads (historically)Office LocationGeographic FocusCheck SizeCapital TypeAUMExample Portfolio Co's

Watertower Group

investment bank and seed fund focused on entertainment and consumer startups

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Derek Norton

Los Angeles

North America

VC/PE Fund

Women Nation Fund (by Live Nation)

Live Nation's fund for female entrepreneurs focused on live entertainment

VC (Seed)

Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting

Los Angeles

Global

$50-150k

Corporate Venture

Waverly Capital

VC firm focused on media (the new incarnation of Daniel Leff's Luminari Capital)

VC (Series A-B)

All things media

Edgar Bronfman Jr.,Daniel Leff

San Francisco,New York

North America

VC/PE Fund

$100M

Novel Effect

VGC Partners

London-based consumer & media VC/PE firm

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting

London

EuropeUK

Β£150k-5m

VC/PE Fund

Β£150m

SuperAwesome

WISE Ventures

sports, media, and real estate related startup investments by the Wilf family who own Garden Home Development and are co-owners of the Minnesota Vikings and Nashville MLS; created esports team in Minnesota with Gary Vaynerchuk

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Social mobile / Social media,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands

Brian Cargo,Steven Wilf,Jonathan Wilf,Mark Wilf,Zygi Wilf,Leonard Wilf

New York

North America

Family Office

Venn, you.i TV, VenueNext, WSC Sports, Tonal, GameOn Technology

WndrCo.

holding co that does control investments in media plus has an active seed VC arm writing $100k checks. Parent company of Quibi. | Not very active in entertainment or seed-stage investing anymore. Mainly focused on growth stage software companies.

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Augmented & Virtual Reality

Justin Wexler,Anthony Saleh,ChenLi Wang,Ambereen Toubassy,Ann Daly,Sujay Jaswa,Jeffrey Katzenberg

Los Angeles,San Francisco

Holding Co

Vision Venture Partners

esports investment firm (seems defunct)

VC (Growth)VC (Series A-B)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Gaming / Esports

Stratton Sclavos,Amit Raizada,Rick Fox

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

Vision Esports, Echo Fox

TechStars Music

accelerator for music-related startups

Startup Accelerator

Music,Music Tech / Music Streaming

Los Angeles

Community, Endel

The VR Fund

early stage VC dedicated to immersive media

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Augmented & Virtual Reality

Marco Demiroz,Tipatat Chennavasin,Hironao Kunimitsu

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

Transcend Fund

The Transcend Fund is an early stage venture capital firm that partners with some of the most ambitious and talented founders in the gaming industry to collaboratively build the future of digital entertainment.

VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Shanti Bergel,Graham Gockley

San Francisco

Global

$200k-2m

VC/PE Fund

$50M

V2 Games

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Samarth Chandola

Vancouver

Third Wave Digital

early stage digital media VC in LA

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Social mobile / Social media,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Gaming / Esports,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,All things media

Allen DeBevoise

$50M

Narativ, All Def Digital, PlutoTV, Salted, Gunslinger Studios, Vessel, Immortals, Digitour

Venista Ventures

VC (Seed)

Christian Teichert

Cologne

Europe

VC/PE Fund

VGames

early stage VC focused on game studios in Israel & Eastern Europe

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Eitan Reisel

Tel Aviv

IsraelEurope

VC/PE Fund

$30M

Upfront Ventures

large VC firm in LA, generalist with some media related deals. Kevin Zhang leads focus on gaming and interactive media

VC (Series A-B)

Kevin Zhang,Mark Suster,Kara Nortman

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

The Information Accelerator

accelerator for news publishing startups

Startup Accelerator

Publishing / News

Jessica Lessin

San Francisco

$25,000

Corporate Venture

United Talent Agency

VC (Series A-B)

All things media

Sam Wick

Los Angeles

Corporate Venture

Tencent

active corporate VC of China's leading consumer tech company

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Gaming / Esports,Social mobile / Social media,Gaming/Esports

Shenzhen,San Francisco

Global

Corporate Venture

The Fund

trio of micro-VC funds each focused on LA, NYC, and London startups with money for each fund contributed by local founders & execs who act as mentors. Broad focus, including media/entertainment related startups.

VC (Seed)

Anna Barber

Los Angeles,London,New York

North AmericaEurope

$50,000

VC/PE Fund

Blerp, The Block, Playbook

Stardom Ventures

focused on Israeli startups in video tech, content, adtech, marketing, & commerce categories, backed by media companies Keshet and Dick Clark Productions

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Danny Peled

Tel Aviv

Corporate Venture

$65m

odo, syte, deepdub.ai

Supernode Global

media-focused VC firm led by Michael Sackler, who is the sole LP. Affiliated with Rooks Nest Productions

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Telecom / Communications Infrastructure,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Publishing / News,Podcasting,Music Tech / Music Streaming,Gaming/Esports,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Content Rights / Licensing,Augmented & Virtual Reality,All things media

Phoebe Arkell,Gina King,Michael Sackler

London

Global

Up to $1 million

VC/PE Fund

Fiit, Playdeo, Disruptor Beam, TRX.TV

Sweet Capital

consumer mobile focused seed VC funded by founders of King games...focused on gaming-related and interactive media startups but won't invest in games

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Christian DΓΆrffer,Pippa Lamb

London

EuropeNorth America

$500k

Family Office

TCG Capital (fka The Chernin Group)

led by Peter Chernin. Acquiring, incubating, and investing in consumer companies, particularly in media. Active in acquiring media brands

VC (Growth)

All things media

Jason Bergsman,Stephen Cousineau,Mike Kerns

Los Angeles

North AmericaAsia

Holding CoVC/PE Fund

Station12

VC (Growth)

Patrick Bradley

London

Europe

~Β£10M

VC/PE Fund

Β£150M

Strand Venture Partners

Late-seed & Series A/B investor focused on sports & entertainment, food & beverage, and real estate related startups

VC (Series A-B)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports

Jamie Shortill

Los Angeles

North America

$50k-500k

Spark Capital

large generalist VC firm, perhaps most famous for being one of the main early investors in Twitter

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Brian Watson,Bijan Sabet,Kevin Thau

San Francisco,Boston

North America

VC/PE Fund

$2.5B+

Twitter, Discord, Niantic, Mirror, Medium, Overtime, DescriptCameo, Snap, Brud,

Supercell Ventures

corp VC arm of mobile games giant Supercell

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports

Jaakko Harlas

Helsinki

Global

Corporate Venture

Super!com

investor/publisher for games

Gaming / Esports

$50M

Spintop Ventures

seed stage VC in Nordics

VC (Seed)

All things media,Gaming / Esports

Erik Wenngren

London,Stockholm

Europe

VC/PE Fund

Dazzle Rocks, Small Giant Games

Structure Fund

VC (Seed)

Digital Video / Digital Media Brands

Adam Shaw,Brad Zions

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

Naritiv,

SPH Media Fund

corp VC of Singapore Media Holdings

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

All things media

Boon Ping Chua,Kevin Low,Wei Cong Seah

Singapore

Global

$1-1.5M

Corporate Venture

$75M

Wochit, Jukin Media, Victorious, Iris.tv

Sky Plc

corporate VC of Sky

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

All things media

James McClurg

London

Global

Corporate Venture

Sisu Game Ventures

dedicated gaming VC focused on Nordics/Europe

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Samuli SyvΓ€huoko

Helsinki

Europe

VC/PE Fund

Doppio Games, Mainframe Industries, Singa, Resolution Games

Sinai VC

Series A/B focused VC, strong consumer focus with many media-related deals. Managing Partner Jordan Fudge also has a film financing fund

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)Gro

Jordan Fudge,Zach White

San Francisco,Los Angeles

Global

VC/PE Fund

$600M

Sequoia Capital

often considered top VC firm in world, has done some big media-related deals like YouTube and Unity but is generalist

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Jess Lee,Stephanie Zhan

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

Serena Capital

focused mainly on French startups; manages the V13 fund for entertainment startups on behalf of French lottery FDJ

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Olivier Martret

Paris

Europe

€200k to €15m

VC/PE Fund

Darewise, 8SEC, PandaScore, Shadow

Serena Ventures

VC fund of tennis icon Serena Williams

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Alison Rapaport

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

Smash Ventures

new firm; led big SPV into Epic Games

VC (Growth)

Eric Garland,Evan Richter

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

Epic Games

Skycatcher

hedge fund making growth VC and seed VC investments in gaming and in emerging markets consumer mobile.

VC (Growth)VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Sia Kamalie

Austin

Global

Hedge Fund

Seven Ventures

affiliate of ProSiebenSat.1

Media-for-Equity

Munich

Europe

Corporate Venture

Remagine Ventures

media-focused VC with top European media conglomerates as Limited Partners

VC (Seed)

All things media

Eze Vidra,Kevin Baxpehler

Tel Aviv,London

EuropeIsrael

VC/PE Fund

Syte, MinuteMedia, Vault, Novos, Hour One, Madskil

Raptor Group

family office of hedge fund billionaire Jim Pallotta...invests in media/sports related startups among other things and owns major sports teams

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,All things media

Jim Pallotta,Clifford Friedman

Boston,New York

Family Office

Boston Celtics, AS Roma, Sport AD, Sports Rocket, TicketManager, FanManager, Fnatic

ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator

Startup Accelerator

Jens Pippig

Berlin,Munich

Europe

Corporate Venture

Progression Fund

consumer internet / digital media seed VC

VC (Seed)

Mark Linao,Matt Lee

Los Angeles,San Francisco

North America

VC/PE Fund

Sapphire Sport

dedicated sports media fund by Sapphire Ventures

VC (Series A-B)

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports

Doug Higgins,Michael Spirito,Nino Marakovic

San Francisco

$3-7M

VC/PE Fund

$115M

Overtime, Fevo, mycujoo, Tonal, Pheonix Labs

Raine Group

top media merchant bank, with PE fund, VC fund, and hedge fund

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

All things media

Joe Ravitch,Jeff Sine,Courtney Favreau,John Salter,Jason Schretter,Gordon Rubenstein,Colin Neville

New York,Los Angeles,London,San Francisco

VC/PE FundMerchant Banking

Raised in Space

music-tech focused VC firm affiliated with Scooter Braun and Ripple

VC (Seed)

Music,Music Tech / Music Streaming

Shara Senderoff

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

Reach Capital

education focused VC, will look at educational media deals

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Digital Learning / Educational Content

Jennifer Carolan,Shauntel Poulson,Chian Gong,Wayee Chu,Esteban Sosnik

San Francisco

North America

VC/PE Fund

Schibsted Growth

corp VC of media conglomerate Schibsted

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Marc Brandsma,Rune RΓΈsten,Richard Sandenskog,Martin Frey

Stockholm,Oslo,Paris

EuropeNorth America

Corporate Venture

Raffay Media Ventures

VC (Series A-B)Media-for-Equity

Aljoscha Kaplan

Berlin

Europe

VC/PE FundCorporate Venture

Omidyar Network

impact investing group of ebay founder Pierre Omidyar...funds media related to promotion of democracy / strong journalism

Grants/Impact InvestingVC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

San Francisco

Global

Family OfficeFoundation

Play2Live fund

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Europe

$50-150k

Corporate Venture

$2M

Plus8 Equity Partners

music-focused VC firm

VC (Series A-B)

Music,Music Tech / Music Streaming

John Acquaviva,Rishi Patel

London

VC/PE Fund

Endel, Splice

NTT Docomo Ventures

VC arm of NTT DOCOMO, Inc., investing in tech with a particular interest in communications and content platforms.

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Tokyo

Global

$2-3M

Corporate Venture

Wave, Genvid, Paronym

Northzone

leading European VC best know for Spotify...generalist firm but looks at media / gaming

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Gaming / Esports,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting,Publishing / News,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Telecom / Communications Infrastructure,Social mobile / Social media,All things media

PΓ€r-JΓΆrgen PΓ€rson,Wendy Xiao Schadeck

London,New York,Stockholm

EuropeNorth America

VC/PE Fund

Spotify, Klarna,

North Base Media

seed @ for news publishing startups globally

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Publishing / News,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands

Marcus Brauchli,Sasa Vucinic

Washington DC,Seoul

South AsiaMENASouth America

VC/PE Fund

Play Ventures

new gaming-focused seed VC firm

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Henric Suuronen,Harri Manninen

Helsinki,Singapore

Global

$500K-$1M

VC/PE Fund

Next 10 Ventures

VC and incubation studio focused on startups related to online content creators / influencers...founder Ben Grubbs led creator relations at YouTube

VC (Seed)Incubation Studio

Content Rights / Licensing,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands

Benjamin Grubbs

Los Angeles,Singapore

Global

VC/PE Fund

$50M

NFX

VC firm focused on startups with network effects ("NFX")...very strong on gaming and interactive media

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports,Social mobile / Social media,All things media

Gigi Levy-Weiss,James Currier,Pete Flint

San Francisco,Tel Aviv

IsraelEuropeNorth America

VC/PE Fund

Patreon, Houseparty, Path, Playtika, Lyric, Feedly, Crackle, Flickr, Second Life, Sounds, Friend.ly, Skout, Plarium, MyHeritage, Storyhunter, Swell

Next Media Accelerator

Startup Accelerator

Dirk Herzbach Zeiler

Hamburg

Europe

Night Ventures

$20M VC fund by Night Media, a talent management firm the manages influencers like Mr. Beast and Preston. LPs in the fund are primarily top social media / gaming influencers.

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports,Social mobile / Social media

Reed Duchscher

Dallas

North America

up to $300k

VC/PE Fund

$20M

Muse Capital

seed VC focused on consumer startups. Many ties to entertainment industry

VC (Seed)

All things media

Rachel Springate,Assia Grazioli-Venier

Los Angeles

North AmericaEurope

VC/PE Fund

Artie, Faze Clan, Okay Play

NextNews Ventures

news & media tech early stage VC by fmr McClatchy CEO Craig Forman

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Publishing / News

Craig Forman

San Francisco

North America

VC/PE Fund

New Media Ventures

angel group and micro-VC fund investing in for-profit and non-profit media ventures in the US that advance the values of the US progressive political movement (generally, aligned with the Democratic Party)

Grants/Impact InvestingVC (Seed)

San Francisco

North America

Blavity, Some of Us, Sister District, Vote.org, CrowdTangle, Swing Left, PushBlack

Naspers

South African newspaper publisher turned internet and e-commerce investment giant after it led Series A in Tencent, a stake now worth $100B+

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Cape Town

Global

Corporate Venture

MDC Ventures

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Telecom / Communications Infrastructure,Publishing / News,Podcasting,Music Tech / Music Streaming,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Content Rights / Licensing,Augmented & Virtual Reality

Jessica Peltz-Zatulove

New York

GlobalNorth America

$100-250k

Corporate Venture

Catch & Release, Msg.ai, Polymorph

Menlo Ventures

large generalist VC firm; has done some media deals, namely Roku

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Shawn Carolan

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

$5B

Roku

Maveron

VC firm focused on consumer startups, founded by Dan Levitan and fmr Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz

VC (Series A-B)

Jerry Lu

Seattle,New York

VC/PE Fund

Wave

Media Ventures GmbH

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Dirk StrΓΆer

Cologne

Europe

Family Office

Medici Capital Partners

Growth/pre-IPO investor in consumer tech

VC (Growth)

All things media

Richard Yen

San Francisco

Global

$3-20M

Second Spectrum

Matter.vc

no longer active; accelerator for journalism-related startups

Startup Accelerator

Publishing / News

San Francisco,New York

North America

$50k

NewsDeeply, Purple, NewsWhip

MDIF - Media Development Investment Fund

debt & equity financing for media in countries where free press is under threat

VC (Seed)Grants/Impact Investing

Publishing / News

Jim Egan

New York,Prague

Global

Foundation

Modern Times Group investment fund

corp VC, strong esports ties

VC (Series A-B)

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Gaming / Esports

Stockholm

North AmericaEurope

Corporate Venture

$30M

Marcy Ventures

early stage VC of Jay-Z, Jay Brown and Larry Marcus

VC (Series A-B)

Larry Marcus

New York

VC/PE Fund

$85M

Makers Fund

new gaming-focused VC

VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Matthew Ball,Jay Chi,Michael Cheung

London,Hong Kong

Global

$1-10M

VC/PE Fund

$180M

Genvid, FaceIT, Bossa Studios, tinyBuild, SuperData, Typhoon Studios, Klang Games, Teacher Gaming

Luma Launch

generalist LA seed fund that has some media-related investments

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Social mobile / Social media

Laurent Grill

Los Angeles

$100-250k

Corporate Venture

MaC Venture Capital

generalist (pre-)seed fund with strong consumer and media background. Talent manager Troy Carter and production company MACRO are strategic LPs.

VC (Seed)

Marlon Nichols,Mike Palank,Adrian Fenty,Charles King

Los Angeles

Global

VC/PE Fund

London Venture Partners

leading gaming-focused VC

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

David Gardner,David Lau-Kee

London

Europe

$500k-$2.5M

VC/PE Fund

Unity, Bunch, TinyBytes, Klang Games

LINE Ventures

VC arm of LINE (Japanese social/messaging giant), investing in all things tech with particular interest in gaming and interactive media

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports

Hyung Kim

San Francisco,Tokyo

Global

Corporate Venture

Dialpad, Soundhound, Game Closure

Lightspeed Venture Partners

big generalist VC firm with numerous partners interested in media / content / social startups

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Social mobile / Social media

Alex Taussig,Jeremy Liew,Paul Murphy,Amy Wu

San Francisco

Global

$500k-30M

VC/PE Fund

$4B

Snap, Giphy, Mic, Cheddar, HQ

Ludus

venture studio incubating & investing in gaming startups in Turkey

Incubation StudioVC (Seed)

İsmet Gâkşen

Istanbul

Turkey

VC/PE Fund

JamBox Games

Luminari Capital

no longer active, now operating as Waverly Capital

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Daniel Leff

San Francisco

Liontree Advisors

top media-focused merchant bank that does some startup investments

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Social mobile / Social media,Telecom / Communications Infrastructure,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Publishing / News,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting,Gaming / Esports,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Augmented & Virtual Reality,All things media

Aryeh Bourkoff,James Lindsay,Howard Han

New York,Paris,London

Global

Merchant Banking

Level Up

Creative Tech VC with a focus on gaming; Seed & Series A

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Thibaud Morin,Guillaume Lautour

Paris

Europe

$600k-5M

VC/PE Fund

$30M

Superscale / Weward / Neopolis / Litgames / Metagames

Lightshed Ventures

VC arm of media equity research firm LightShed Partners

VC (Series A-B)

All things media

Rich Greenfield,Jamie Seltzer

New York

Lerer Hippeau Ventures

NYC seed fund by HuffPo founders / BuzzFeed anchor investors that invested in lots of digital publishing startups. Generalist fund with lots of consumer deals

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

All things media

Ken Lerer,Eric Hippeau,Ben Lerer,Andrea Hippeau,Julian Moncada,Graham Brown

New York

VC/PE Fund

LEGO Ventures

corporate VC of LEGO Group, focused on educational/kids media and gaming

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports,Digital Learning / Educational Content

San Francisco,London,Copenhagen

Global

Corporate Venture

Klang Games

Learn Capital

internationally active VC dedicated to edu/learning startups

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Digital Learning / Educational Content

Michael Staton,Rob Hutter,Greg Mauro

San Francisco

Global

VC/PE Fund

Lakestar

multi-stage VC in Europe

VC (Growth)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports,Music Tech / Music Streaming

Ben Cousens,Mika Salmi

London,Zurich,Berlin

Europe

VC/PE Fund

Darewise, Amuse, NetSpeak Games, Spotify

Liberty Global Ventures

VC arm of telecom giant Liberty Global, which is based in Denver and owns telecom companies around the world, particularly Europe

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Telecom / Communications Infrastructure,Content Rights / Licensing,Social mobile / Social media

Denver

Global

Corporate Venture

LDV Capital

VC dedicated to visual tech / computer vision

VC (Seed)

Publishing / News,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Augmented & Virtual Reality

Evan Nisselson

New York

$100k

Index Ventures

top US-Europe VC firm; generalist but strong track record in consumer, media, & gaming

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Digital Learning / Educational Content,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Gaming / Esports,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Social mobile / Social media,All things media

Guzman Diaz,Dino Becirovic,Danny Rimer

San Francisco,London

Global

$1-60M

VC/PE Fund

$5.4B

King, Supercell, Roblox, Discord, Soundcloud, Patreon, Squarespace, Sonos

L2 Ventures

Joe Montana's Seed VC firm

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports

Michael Ma,Mike Miller,Nate Montana,Joe Montana

San Francisco

North America

VC/PE Fund

Mux, Brat, Cloud9

Intel Capital

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Digital Learning / Educational Content,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands

Christine Herron

San Francisco

$250k-8M

Corporate Venture

HV Holtzbrinck Ventures GmH

corp VC of German business publishing giant HV Holtzbrink...focuses more on fintech than media but does range of deals

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Martin Weber

Munich

Europe

VC/PE FundCorporate Venture

Interactive Gaming Ventures

Gaming / Esports

Jack Tretton

Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers

top generalist VC firm...some media-related deals. Lots fo turnover in partners recently so interests may have changed

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

San Francisco

$250k-10M

VC/PE Fund

JabCap

family office whose private market investments include a focus on gaming

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Jean-Phillipe Jabre

London,Los Angeles

North AmericaEurope

Family Office

Konvoy Ventures

gaming infrastructure seed VC

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Josh Chapman,Jason Chapman,Jackson Vaughan

Denver,New York

VC/PE Fund

Hummingbird Ventures

European seed VC that's strong in mobile gaming

VC (Seed)

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Gaming / Esports

Yousif Al-Dujaili,Firat Ileri

London,Istanbul

Europe

$500k-5M

VC/PE Fund

Peak Games, Gram Games, Loom.AI, Midnite

Griffin Gaming Partners

gaming VC fund, collaboration between Peter Levin and LionTree

VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports

Peter Levin

San Francisco,New York,Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

GV (fka Google Ventures)

large generalist VC firm, some media-related investments

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

David Krane,MG Siegler

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

GMG Ventures

VC arm of The Scott Trust, the parent foundation of Guardian Media Group. Investing in Seed and Series A startups within focused on "the news, media and entertainment sector."

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Publishing / News,All things media

Denise Xifara

London

Europe

FoundationCorporate Venture

Papercup, Auxuman, Kyra Entertainment, Sensity, RADiCAL

Greycroft Partners

generalist Series A/B VC with consumer bend

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Digital Learning / Educational Content,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Publishing / News,Gaming / Esports,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,All things media

Alan Patricof,Ellie Wheeler,Dana Settle,Ian Sigalow,John Elton,Mark Terbeek

Los Angeles,New York

North AmericaEurope

$1-40M

VC/PE Fund

Guggenheim Digital Media

German Media Pool

Media-for-Equity

Aljoscha Kaplan,Niko Waesche

Berlin

Europe

Corporate Venture

GC Tracker Fund

AR/VR, gaming, & esports fund affiliated with Greycroft Ventures and run by Jon Goldman

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports,Augmented & Virtual Reality

Jon Goldman

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

GameClub, Wave, FanAI, Toonstar, CameraIQ

Greylock Ventures

large generalist VC firm, had been very active in social media investments but less so now

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

$3.5M

Hearst Ventures

corp VC of Hearst

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Kenneth Bronfin,Scott English,Darcy Bentley Frisch,David Famolari,Gil Canaani,Katie Hu,Megumi Ikeda

Corporate Venture

Heartcore Capital

fka Sunstone Capital...large European VC firm dedicated to consumer startup investments

VC (Series A-B)

All things media

Levin Bunz,Max Niederhofer,Yacine Ghalim,Christian Jepsen

Copenhagen,Berlin,Paris

Europe

VC/PE Fund

Seriously, Podimo, RFRSH Entertainment

Galaxy Interactive

VC fund affiliated with Galaxy Digital (blockchain-focused merchant bank). Investing in interactive media and fintech startups, primarily at Series A.

VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Richard Kim,Sam Englebardt

New York

North AmericaEurope

VC/PE Fund

Endeavor / WME Ventures

VC (Seed)

Molly Schmidt

Los Angeles,New York

Corporate Venture

Floodgate

generalist seed VC

VC (Seed)

Ryan Walsh

San Francisco

VC/PE Fund

Dune Ventures

gaming focused VC firm

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

David Brillembourg Jr.

San Francisco

North AmericaEurope

VC/PE Fund

G+J Digital Ventures

corporate VC of Bertelsmann-owned publishing giant Gruner + Jung

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Publishing / News,All things media

Beate Koch

Berlin

Europe

$0-4M

Corporate Venture

Pamono, Makerist, Tylco, OnoLabs

Edge Investments

Invests in IP/content companies and in tech for content distribution, engagement, or commercialisation. UK focused. Looks to lead rounds and take board seat in companies with demonstrated product-market fit.

VC (Series A-B)

Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,All things media

Niall Santamaria

London

UK

Β£1-5m

Endeit Ventures

VC (Growth)

Hubert Deitmers,Martijn Hamann

Hamburg,Amsterdam

Europe

€3-8M

VC/PE Fund

Founders Fund

large generalist VC firm formed by Peter Thiel and Paypal Mafia folks, known for investing in contrarian or off-the-beaten path startups

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

San Francisco

Global

VC/PE Fund

EQT Ventures

multi-stage VC fund of European private equity giant EQT

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports,Augmented & Virtual Reality,All things media

Ted Persson,Lars JΓΆrnow

Amsterdam,Berlin,San Francisco,London,Stockholm

EuropeNorth America

€1m - €75m

VC/PE Fund

€1.2bn+

Small Giant Games, WarDucks, Popcore, Permutive, Varjo

Five Four Ventures

spun out of Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company. Investing and incubation media/consumer startups

VC (Series A-B)Incubation Studio

David Birnbaum

Deep Space Ventures

esports VC fund

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Stephen Hays

Dallas

Quarterback

Courtside Ventures

sports-related VC fund

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Telecom / Communications Infrastructure,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Publishing / News,Gaming / Esports,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands,Augmented & Virtual Reality,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting

Deepen Parikh,Vasu Kulkarni

Detroit,New York

Global

$250K-$1.5M

VC/PE Fund

The Athletic, FanAI, The Drone Racing League, Beam (acq by Microsoft), StockX, LiveLike

Crush Ventures

Talent mgmt firm Crush Management's early stage investing arm focused on "the intersection of pop culture, consumers, and tech-enabled experiences". The firm's clients include Sia, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Lorde, Train, Weezer, & Green Day.

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Andrew Kahn

Los Angeles

CRV

large VC firm in Boston and SF with investments in Niantic, Patreon, Kapwing, etc.

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports

Justine Moore,Olivia Moore,Saar Gur

San Francisco,Boston

North America

VC/PE Fund

$4B

Niantic, Patreon, Kapwing, Scribd

Demain Prisma Media

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)Startup Accelerator

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting,All things media

Hubert Saint Olive

Paris

Europe

$0-500k

Corporate Venture

Daylight Holdings

VC fund of Hollywood talent mgmt firm

VC (Series A-B)

All things media

Ben Curtis

Los Angeles

Curious Capital (Heinen-Verlag)

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Johannes Heinen

Cologne

€50-250k

Corporate Venture

Disney Accelerator

Startup Accelerator

All things media

Los Angeles

North America

Corporate Venture

Creandum

Stockholm-based early stage VC with offices in Berlin and SF, known for seed investment in Spotify

VC (Series A-B)

All things media,Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Gaming / Esports,Digital Learning / Educational Content,Digital Video / Digital Media Brands

Simon Schminke,Staffan Helgesson,Fredrik Cassel

Stockholm,Berlin,San Francisco

Europe

€200K - 8M

VC/PE Fund

Spotify, Small Giant Games, Kahoot, Epidemic Sound

CASSIUS Family

US & Europe seed fund focused on consumer brands and content/marketing

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Emmanuel Seuge

Atlanta,Paris,New York

Brat, Wonder, Tribe, Highsnobriety, Indify,

Brighteye Ventures

media & edu focused seed fund in Paris

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Digital Learning / Educational Content

Benoit Wirz,Alex Spiro

Paris

Europe

€500k-3M

VC/PE Fund

Causeway Media Partners

dedicated sports media fund, led by owner of the Boston Celtics NBA team

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports

Wyc Grousbeck,Bob Higgins,Mark Wan,Jasmine Robinson,Chris Warren

San Francisco,Boston

Global

VC/PE Fund

$345M

CAA Ventures

VC deals by top Hollywood talent agency CAA

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Michael Yanover

Los Angeles,San Francisco

Corporate Venture

Cobalt Capital (fka Evolution Media Capital)

media-focused growth VC

VC (Growth)

All things media

Rick Hess,Gautam Shah,Dan Abrams

Los Angeles

VC/PE Fund

Bryant Stibel

VC firm of Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel; unclear if still operating following Bryant's death in 2020.

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports,Gaming / Esports

Jeff Stibel

Los Angeles

North America

VC/PE Fund

Broadway Video Ventures LLC

no longer active, see Five Four Ventures for new iteration

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

New York

Holding Co

Above Average, ZEFR, Houseparty, Cheddar, Headspace, YouNow, Arsenic, AirTV

Compound Ventures

deep focus on interactive media, AI applied to media, virtual characters, animation

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Mike Dempsey

New York

North America

VC/PE Fund

Brickhouse Ventures

Canadian esports VC fund with US & Mexico offices

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Vancouver

North America

Comcast Ventures

corporate VC of telecom giant Comcast, invests broadly not just in media and telecom

VC (Series A-B)

Daniel Gulati,Michael Yang,Sam Landman,Amy Banse

Los Angeles,Philadelphia,New York,San Francisco

Corporate Venture

Bettor Capital

early stage VC fund for real money online gaming (i.e. gambling, sports betting, etc.)

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

David VanEgmond

New York

VC/PE Fund

$100m

Bonnier Ventures

VC arm of Swedish media conglomerate Bonnier

VC (Series A-B)

Stockholm

EuropeNorth America

Corporate Venture

Bertelsmann Brazil Investments

South America

Corporate Venture

Bertelsmann India Investments

South Asia

Corporate Venture

BDMI

North American VC arm of Bertelsmann, one of the world's largest media conglomerates

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Urs Cete,Sim Blaustein,Keith Titan

New York

North AmericaEurope

Corporate Venture

Behold Ventures

seed fund for Nordic gaming startups by ex-DICE execs

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Karl Magnus Troedsson,SigurlΓ­na IngvarsdΓ³ttir,Magnus Kenneby

Stockholm,ReykjavΓ­k,MalmΓΆ

Europe

$500k-1m

VC/PE Fund

$25m

Bertelsmann Asia Investments

Asia

Corporate Venture

BITKRAFT Esports Ventures

solely dedicated to esports

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Gaming / Esports

Jens Hilgers

Los Angeles,Berlin

Global

TEO, Runtime, Quarterback

Bose Ventures

audio/voice focused VC arm of Bose

VC (Series A-B)VC (Seed)

Augmented & Virtual Reality,Music Tech / Music Streaming / Podcasting

Steve Romine

Boston

Corporate Venture

$50M

betaworks ventures

well-known seed fund and incubation studio, always tinkering with new ideas at forefront of social and online media

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Matt Hartman

New York

North America

VC/PE Fund

Arrive

VC arm of Roc Nation, the talent management and entertainment company formed by Jay-Z

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Neil Sirni,Stephen Francis

New York

North AmericaSouth Asia

Corporate Venture

Manticore Games, Outlier, Muze, Whisper,

Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator

Startup Accelerator

Berlin

Europe

€25,000

Corporate Venture

Andreessen Horowitz

Large generalist VC, track record and stated interest in various types of media startups

VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Gaming / Esports,All things media

Jon Lai,Andrew Chen

San Francisco

North America

VC/PE Fund

$10B

Substack, Descript, BuzzFeed, Genius, Medium, Within, UnitedMasters

Ascension Ventures

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Arthur Sherry,Jean de Fougerolles

London

VC/PE Fund

Axel Springer Digital Ventures

VC (Series A-B)

Berlin

Europe

Bauer Venture Partners

corporate VC of German media (magazines) group Bauer Media

VC (Series A-B)

Sven-Olof Reimers

Cologne

Europe

Corporate Venture

€100M

Athletico Ventures

early stage VC firm of Arthur Bernard, with European sports stars as LPs & co-investors

VC (Series A-B)

Sports Media / Fantasy Sports

Arthur Bernard

Paris

Europe

VC/PE Fund

aXiomatic

gaming and esports focused holding company, backed by many top Hollywood investors; parent company of Team Liquid esports team.

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)VC (Growth)

Los Angeles

North America

Holding Co

Team Liquid, Niantic, Venn, Epic Games, Dapper Labs

Backstage Capital

VC (Seed)

Arlan Hamilton

Los Angeles

North America

$50k

VC/PE Fund

$5M

1UP Ventures

game studio seed fund by former Microsoft VP of game publishing

VC (Seed)

Gaming / Esports

Ed Fries

Seattle

VC/PE Fund

Lightfox Games, Playable Worlds, Elodie Games

Advancit Capital

Early stage VC focused on all things media, by Jason Ostheimer and Viacom/CBS controlling shareholder Shari Redstone

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Shari Redstone,Jason Ostheimer

New York,Boston

AG Ventures

investing arm of Shawn Mendes manager Andrew Gertler's talent management firm (AG Artists).

New York

Afton Ventures

VC affiliate of Red Light Management, one of the largest talent mgmt firms in music

VC (Seed)VC (Series A-B)

Garrett Williams

New York,Charlotte

North America

Corporate VentureFamily Office

3L Capital

Growth fund by founders of Demand Media. Looks at media-related companies, among other things

VC (Growth)

Shawn Colo,Anton Zietsman,Dave Leyrer

New York,Los Angeles

Alven

Seed & Series A firm in Paris

VC (Seed)

François Méteyer

Paris

Europe

VC/PE Fund

Bunch, PandaScore, Yubo, Madbox, Meero

3311 Ventures

VC arm of production co. Not clear if still active

VC (Seed)

Ross Jacobson

Los Angeles