Cameo, a US-based celebrity video shoutout platform, said it had raised $100m in its series C round at a valuation of more than $1bn.
Jonathan Turner’s e.ventures led the round, with Turner joining Cameo’s board. Other investors included search engine provider Alphabet’s GV corporate venturing unit (formerly known as Google Ventures), online retailer Amazon’s Alexa Fund, Japan-listed conglomerate SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Chernin Group, UTA Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit of United Talent Agency, bank Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global, venture capital firms Valor Equity Partners, Lightspeed, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital and Origin Ventures and Cameo celebrities, including skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.
Cameo says it will use the cash to improve its core product, roll out new products like fan clubs and Cameo Calls, expand its global presence to more countries, and grow its burgeoning business-to-business operations.
The company said it had now raised more than $165m.
In June 2019, Cameo completed a $50m series B round backed by over-the-top media company Chernin Group, it disclosed on Tuesday.
The round closed on June 17 and was led by Kleiner Perkins, which invested alongside venture capital firms Spark Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners as well as private equity firm Bain Capital.
Cameo previously closed a $12.5m series A round in November 2018 that was led by Lightspeed and backed by Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Bedrock, Chicago Ventures, Starting Line, Origin Ventures and angel investors Jeff Wiener and Calvin ‘Snoop Dogg’ Broadus.
The series A followed $3.2m from undisclosed investors in February 2018, according to a regulatory filing, though Origin Ventures, Chicago Ventures, Starting Line and Weiner were all described by ChicagoInno as existing investors in the series A round.
