(@caffeine/Twitter)
Caffeine, the social live streaming platform emerging as a rival to Twitch, has received a $100 million investment from 21st Century Fox as part of the startup’s latest successful round of fundraising.
The company’s new financing will be used to launch Caffeine Studios, which will produce exclusive esports, video gaming, sports, and live entertainment content. That joint venture will be co-owned by New Fox, the company that is expected to own Fox’s remaining assets once its sale to Disney is finalized.
“The combination of the Caffeine platform with a content studio that benefits from Fox Sports’ expertise in live events and programming will help position Caffeine to deliver compelling experiences in esports, video gaming and entertainment,” said Lachlan Murdoch, Chairman of 21st Century Fox, in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Caffeine and build something special for fans in the growing live social streaming esports and gaming space.”
Murdoch is joining Caffeine’s advisory board as part the investment. Since being founded in April 2016 by two former Apple TV designers, Caffeine has raised $46 million over two previous rounds. Those rounds were led by Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners, who also participated in the latest fundraising along with other undisclosed partners.
Still operating in what it calls a “pre-release” mode, Caffeine plans to offer ad-free live streams and also to provide broadcasters the opportunity to make money through micro-transactions. According to the company, Caffeine aims to build positive social interaction between gamers and fans while preventing the sort of toxic comments that have flooded other live-stream gaming services.
Fox’s press release on the deal also states that Caffeine is partnering with Live Nation to stream live concerts later this year.
“We want to bring the world together around friends and live broadcasts,” said Ben Keighran, CEO of Caffeine. “It’s an ambitious goal, but one we believe is attainable with the support of our amazing new partners, our awesome and ever-growing community, and the content that together, we can bring onto the platform.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Fox Sports will remain part of New Fox, and is not being sold to Disney, meaning Caffeine’s live-streaming studio could be integrated into the network’s plans for both traditional sports content and esports viewing.
Twitch receives 2.2 million unique broadcasters per month and remains the gold standard for live-streaming esports platforms. Last April, the NBA 2K League partnered with Twitch to stream the NBA’s new esports league for the upcoming season.
