Cameo, the celeb video site you’re in all probability acquainted with should you’ve celebrated a birthday within the final three years, announced this morning that it’s raised a $100M Series C. The spherical, which was led by Jonathan Turner with e.ventures, places the site’s worth at simply north of $1 billion.
Cameo has been constructing a great deal of steam lately, however the service is amongst people who managed to get a serious enhance amid the pandemic, as celebrities and normals alike all of the sudden discovered themselves with much more time on their palms.
“The pandemic put extra stress on the already unstable business models supporting talent across sports and entertainment ecosystems,” CEO Steven Galanis stated in a Medium put up tied to the information. “It catalyzed a massive shift in awareness and widespread adoption of direct-to-fan models, which has, in turn, created a new foundation for fan engagement. We exist in an entirely different world today — one in which talent actually want to connect more deeply with their fans, and fans expect unprecedented access to the talent they admire most. This funding will help us create the access and connections that will define the future of the ‘connection economy’ on a global scale.”
This newest spherical greater than doubles the service’s whole funding, bringing it as much as $165 million. Google Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund, UTA, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Valor Equity Partners and Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley) be a part of present traders, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, The Chernin Group, Origin Ventures and Spark Capital. There are additionally some “talent investors” on board, as effectively, together with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Because, you realize, Cameo.
Cameo says some 80% of its normal video requests are booked as presents, to have a good time issues like birthdays. In whole, round two million movies have been created by means of the providing. But the site is trying to develop into further classes. Last yr it added the flexibility to ebook celebrities as visitors for Zoom video chats (a really pandemic-focused providing).
Some of the funding will go towards ramping up Cameo for Business (C4B), which brings celeb movies to occasions and conferences, in addition to advertisements and gross sales. Effectively, the service works as a pipeline between companies and well-known individuals. The firm may even be expending its worldwide providing, rising past the roughly 20% of movies at present bought exterior the U.S.
