Cheddar, the self-styled post cable news network, has received $22 million (€17.9m) towards the launch of a second network and take itself international.
The Series D funding has been led by Liberty Global, Goldman Sachs, Antenna Group, 7 Global Capital, Dentsu Ventures, and the family office of Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher. Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures, The New York Stock Exchange, AT&T, Ribbit Capital, Amazon and Altice USA also participated in the round.
“In the past year, we at Raine have only deepened our conviction around the rise of brand-first new media companies. Cheddar has been the poster child for creating distinctive, high quality original content with its scoops, interviews, live broadcast innovations, distribution deals, and ad products. It is the prototypical Raine company and we are thrilled to support Cheddar in its next phase of growth,” said Gordon Rubenstein, Managing Partner of Raine Ventures and Cheddar Board Member.
Cheddar has built up its schedule through linear broadcasts and on demand content in the United States on Sling, Comcast X1, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Twitter, Twitch, and a host of other platforms. The company will launch its Snapchat Publisher Story in April.
“Our investment in Cheddar is the first step in what will be our international collaboration with the company,” said Simon Freer, Chief Commercial Officer of Liberty Global’s content investments arm, “Cheddar is the leader in live digital news video, and owns all its IP. We believe Cheddar can go global, and we are excited to collaborate with the company to make that a reality.”
According to research from Market Strategies International, Cheddar viewership stands at around 10 per cent among US millennials (13% among 18–24 year olds).
Cheddar broadcasts from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, its street level studio in the glass corner of the Sprint Store in the Flatiron Building, WeWork on Los Angeles, and the White House. It is available on Sling TV, Amazon, Twitter, 60% of smart TVs in the US, and Facebook.
In Europe, Cheddar is available on the French OTT service Molotov since last November. “I’ve been reading about Molotov for a year and been blown away by the product and user numbers. It’s a vision of the future, and the logical partner for us to launch with in Europe,” said Jon Steinberg, CEO of Cheddar, at the time of launching.
“JeanDavid Blanc is a visionary entrepreneur and values professional news content. Cheddar will be a brand that scales globally, starting today.”
