5.
: $16.2M, December 9
Investor: Axel Springer
Bio: NowThis is the number one news organization on Facebook and distributes its content exclusively through social media channels.
News: The funds will be used to grow its editorial and technical teams and to expand into international markets.
4.
, $18.2M, December 9
Investors: MGM led, with contributions from Warner Music Group, Samsung, Sequoia Capital and Intel.
Bio: Founded by Israeli musician Yoni Bloch, Interlude creates videos that allow the users to choose what they see next. Much like a child’s ‘choose your adventure’ book, viewers of the interactive videos get to choose which way the footage goes based on a number of pre-recorded scenes. The Coca-Cola Mother's Day ad above allows you to toggle between a mother or daughter's point of view.
News: The interactive videos have been used in ads for the likes of Subaru and Intel and in music videos for Coldplay and Bob Dylan. MGM and Interlude are already working together on an interactive digital short film based on MGM’s 1983 hacker classic WarGames.
3.
Investors: Georgian Partners led the round, with participation from previous investors including FirstMark Capital and Felicis Ventures.
Bio: Bluecore offers data-based automation for e-commerce brands, letting them send more powerful emails at the right time to the right consumers to drive higher conversion.
News: The company will expand the feature set and the team with the new funding.
2.
Investors: Catterton
Bio: Peloton represents the evolution of the at-home fitness market by merging high-design with modern technology to provide access to live and on-demand fitness group classes by the best instructors in the world. Peloton offers a completely immersive fitness experience, with the technology, performance metrics and social connectivity to make every workout both effective and addicting.
News: The investment will allow Peloton to accelerate innovation in the at-home fitness category and rapidly expand awareness and market share.
1.
, $200M, December 9
Investors: Disney has reportedly doubled down on Vice media, increasing its investment from $200 million to $400 million according to Financial Times and Crain’s New York sources familiar with the matter. The deal makes Disney the biggest single investor with nearly a 10 percent stake in Vice media.
News: Disney's initial investment of $200 million came last month when Vice announced it was taking over A+E network channel H2. Some of the funds will go toward the creation of the new ‘Viceland’ channel. A+E Networks, which is jointly owned by Disney and Hearst, already holds a separate 15 percent stake in Vice.
Bio: Founded as a punk magazine in Montreal in 1999, Vice is now one of the biggest brands in online media, based in Williamsburg and valued at more than $4 billion. The flagship Vice News is supported by sites in multiple verticals such as Motherboard (tech), Id (fashion) and Noisy (music).
