SnagFilms, an online streaming and embedding service for independent films, closed a $7m round on Monday encompassing both debt and equity financing. Investors included Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing fund run by telecom, cable and internet company provider Comcast.
Accompanying Comcast in the $4.5m equity tranche of the funding were venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Case Foundation Ventures, the venture capital division of AOL co-founder Steve Case’s philanthropic Case Foundation, as well as angel investors David Fialkow and Terry Semel, who also joined SnagFilm’s board.
Semel, former chief executive officer of both Yahoo and Warner Bros. (where he held the position jointly), said: "I have spent a long time at the intersection of films and new media. Movie studios don’t have a monopoly on great stories, yet small distribution companies struggle to assemble the footprint necessary to reach a scale audience. SnagFilms has that base – the necessary contracts and relationships to distribute thousands of great stories, with the capital required to lead its field."
The $2.5m debt financing was provided by way of a debt facility secured from the Silicon Valley Bank. The $7m round follows a $10m round raised in January last year from Comcast Ventures and NEA.
SnagFilms plans to use the funding to increase its library of independent films and documentaries, which currently number more than 3,000, while accelerating its technology base in order to provide its films across all digital platforms.
The films featured on SnagFilms are free to watch and can be viewed on demand on both the SnagFilms site itself and a digital network that spans more than 110,000 affiliated sites and webpages, including Comcast’s XfinityTV.com film streaming service.