Liberty Global invests in Cheddar, the CNBC for millennials
Cheddar, the leading live-streaming financial news network founded by former BuzzFeed president Jon Steinberg, has announced a $22 million round of investment by Liberty Global, alongside Raine Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Antenna Group, 7 Global Capital and Dentsu Ventures.
The Series D financing will enable Cheddar to launch its second live news network and fuel international growth. Existing investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures, The New York Stock Exchange, AT&T, Ribbit Capital, Amazon and Altice USA.
Cheddar has dramatically increased its distribution in the past year with live linear broadcasts and on-demand programming on Sling, Comcast X1, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Twitter, Twitch, and a number of other platforms. The company is also launching its Snapchat Publisher Story.
According to a recent study conducted by Market Strategies International (MSI), a provider of audience measurement services to leading cable networks, Cheddar viewership has already climbed to 10% among U.S. millennials (13% among 18-24 year olds) after less than two years of its first broadcast.
Hundreds of thousands watch Cheddar live each day and hundreds of millions watch Cheddar video clips on social media monthly.
“Our investment in Cheddar is the first step in what will be our international collaboration with the company,” said Simon Freer, Chief Commercial Officer of Liberty Global’s content investments arm.
He added: “Cheddar is the leader in live digital news video, and owns all its IP. We believe Cheddar can go global, and we are excited to collaborate with the company to make that a reality.”
“I’m thrilled to welcome this group of leading global media powerhouses into Cheddar,” said Jon Steinberg, Founder and CEO of Cheddar. “We are strengthening our already robust balance sheet with capital that we can use to bring our Post Cable Networks to Europe and beyond. We own all of our IP and now is the time to monetize this asset globally.”
