NowThisNews, a US-based video news provider, has raised $4.8m to take its total in the past year to $10m from a consortium including media group Bedrocket Media Ventures.
The other investors in NowThisNews included venture capital firms SoftBank Capital, Lerer Ventures and Oak Investment Partners.
NowThisNews was founded by Ken Lerer and Eric Hippeau, previously co-founder and chief executive, respectively at AOL subsidiary HuffingtonPost.
Lerer went on to set up his eponymous VC firm, while Hippeau is a special partner at SoftBank Capital.
In September 2012, Lerer had also invested in video production company Bedrocket’s $15m A round led by VC peer New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
Bedrocket was founded in 2011 by its chief executive, Brian Bedol, co-founder of Classic Sports Network and College Sports Television, in partnership with Lerer.
At the time of its $15m round, Bedol, who is also an adviser to VC firm Raptor Ventures having originally founded VC peer General Catalyst Partners, said: “Bedrocket knows the value of content in a multiplatform world. We have a simple but revolutionary goal: to provide high-quality, low cost programming across screens.
“The old order – with its big, high-cost studios and gatekeepers – is crumbling, and the future belongs to nimble content creators who can take advantage of the seismic changes happening in the industry. We see a unique opportunity to become cable in the cloud.”
Bedrocket’s other strategic investments includes VHX, an independent distribution platform for filmmakers, and Full Screen, a next-generation digital media company powered by a network of YouTube channels.
Bedol was an original investor in Akamai Technologies, an investor of Gamesville, a pioneer in online massively multi-player gaming, subsequently sold to Lycos, and a co-founder and board member of Bluefin Labs, a predictive analytics company based on social media data.