- Caffeine has announced that Cox Enterprises, Fox Corporation, and Sanabil Investments have co-led a $113 million Series D investment in the company
Caffeine has announced that Cox Enterprises, Fox Corporation, and Sanabil Investments have co-led a $113 million Series D investment in the company. Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners also joined the round.
And Caffeine is a new kind of broadcast company focused on the creation and distribution of live and interactive entertainment. The company launched out of beta last November and added 2 million new registered users over the last year as it developed new and interactive entertainment content. Plus the additional capital will be used to fuel continued growth and rapid onboarding of the world’s best entertainers.
Earlier this year, Caffeine entered into an exclusive partnership with Drake — a collaboration that brought Ultimate Rap League (URL) to the platform. The opening stream “Genesis” brought in 140,000 battle rap fans. And since then, hundreds of thousands of battle rap and hip-hop fans tune in live to its virtual battles, weekly shows, and tournaments.
“Caffeine connects entertainers with world-class technology so they can create content that is authentic and connects culture and community,” said Caffeine founder and chief executive officer Ben Keighran in a statement. “We see this week over week during URL’s live battles where tens of thousands of people are experiencing something live and new together.”
Caffeine is reimagining live streaming. And for a better user experience, the real-time platform delivers low-latency viewing and interactions. Typically sub-190-milliseconds, Caffeine streams are often 15 seconds to a full-minute faster than other streaming platforms.
Plus Caffeine also has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying, hate speech and racism. This is supported by a multi-level moderation system that integrates automated filtering with human moderators and an empowered community that helps self-regulate. Caffeine’s business model is built around in-app purchases that reward creators with “Props” shared during streams. Together, it leads to fresher and more relevant content along with unique partnership opportunities for content creators.
Caffeine also streams a variety of Fox Sports and entertainment content such as Big East basketball, Bundelisga soccer, Formula E races, the FOX SOUL channel, and Anidom Beyond with host and comedian Andy Richter. And Fox Sports hosts Joy Taylor and Rachel Bonnetta stream their own weekly shows “Joy Chat” and Bonnetta’s “Worst Cooking Show Ever.” Plus Caffeine partnered with Fox to help raise millions for pandemic relief through a stream of the “iHeart Living Room Concert For America.”
