Quibi, the US-based online streaming startup backed by corporates Disney, Warner Bros, Entertainment One, Alibaba and Sony, has raised $400m from undisclosed investors, CEO Meg Whitman told Forbes yesterday.
The company is developing a mobile-focused platform that will host bite-sized news, entertainment and reality television series which will be released in increments of 10 minutes or less, in theory making them easier to watch on the move.
However, the programming will boast similar production values to prestige streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. It has already signed up actors Jennifer Lopez and Liam Hemsworth as well as Academy Award-winning director Guillermo Del Toro.
Quibi announced yesterday in a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show that it has scheduled the launch of the platform for April 6 this year. It intends to release 175 shows boasting 8,500 hours of original content in its first year of operation.
Whitman told Forbes: “We knew over-the-top services made for TV watching was going to be a very crowded field. From the beginning, we will be mobile only. We target a completely different use case: the on-the-go moments.”
Media and entertainment companies Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros and Entertainment One put up $200m of the $1bn Quibi had raised as of mid-2018.
The company has also named Sony Pictures Entertainment, a division of electronics producer Sony, as an investor, along with e-commerce group Alibaba, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Madrone Venture Partners.
