Social broadcasting platform Caffeine has announced a round of funding led by American media corporation 21st Century Fox.
This funding round – which included $100 million (£77 million) from 21st Century Fox – also had participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners, as well as other undisclosed partners.
Ben Keighran, CEO of Caffeine said the following in a statement: “We want to bring the world together around friends and live broadcasts. It’s an ambitious goal, but one we believe is attainable with the support of our amazing new partners, our awesome and ever-growing community, and the content that together, we can bring onto the platform.”
As part of this investment, Caffeine and 21st Century Fox have launched a joint-owned venture titled Caffeine Studios. This studio will “leverage FOX Sports’ expertise in live events and programming” to aid with creating exclusive content on esports, video games, sports, and live entertainment. Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox, will join Caffeine’s board.
Murdoch commented on the venture: “The combination of the Caffeine platform with a content studio that benefits from Fox Sports’ expertise in live events and programming will help position Caffeine to deliver compelling experiences in esports, video gaming and entertainment. We are excited to partner with Caffeine and build something special for fans in the growing live social streaming esports and gaming space.”
As well as the funding round and the new studio, Caffeine has also announced a content agreement with media conglomerate Live Nation. This partnership will see live music concerts being broadcast live on the platform in the fourth quarter of 2018.
In March of this year, Caffeine announced a deal with ESL that would see esports come to the platform. This includes live coverage, greatest matches programming, and highlights.
Esports Insider says: Caffeine has a big task ahead of it with its hopes of taking over from Twitch in terms of popularity, but the support of 21st Century Fox can’t hurt too much. The overall total investment is undisclosed though it eclipses $100M, which is some serious money to play with. We’re interested to see the broadcasting platform’s future moves.