Minute Media, a UK-based sports and entertainment-focused digital publishing platform backed by media group ProSiebenSat.1, picked up $40m yesterday in a funding round led by venture fund Dawn Capital.
The other participants in the round were not disclosed but it valued the company at more than $500m post-money, sources told Axios.
Founded in 2011, Minute Media operates more than half a dozen online platforms focused on areas across the sports, entertainment and lifestyle media spectrum linked by a proprietary publishing platform that it also licenses to others.
The company operates seven international newsrooms in addition to accepting user-generated content, and owns multiple video studios together with a research and development centre.
Part of the proceeds from the round will be invested in content for The Players’ Tribune, the athlete-led publication Minute Media bought in November 2019. The funding will also support further development of its publishing platform and potential additional acquisitions.
The company said it has now raised $160m in capital altogether, $40m of which came from ProSieben, a television network owned by media group ProSiebenSat.1, in addition to Dawn Capital, Goldman Sachs, Hamilton Lane, Maor Investments, Battery Ventures, Qumra Capital, Vintage Investment Partners and Gemini Israel Ventures, in June 2019.
ProSiebenSat.1 had alrady backed Minute Media’s $17m series F round in mid-2018 together with Goldman Sachs, Vintage Investment Partners, Qumra Capital, Dawn Capital and Battery Ventures. The latter three had joined the corporate in a $15m series E round the year before.
ProSiebenSat.1’s first investment in the company was through its participation in a $15m round in 2015 with Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital and Gemini Ventures.
