Caffeine Takes Another $100M Shot Of Funding

Months after closing a $46 million round, video game streaming platform Caffeine has raised $100 million more. The corporate round was led by 21st Century Fox, a traditional media company. Other participants in the round include venture capital groups Greylock Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. The pair co-led the company’s previous round.

Follow Crunchbase News on Twitter

In 2017, Walt Disney Studios acquired 21st Century Fox’s television and movie studios. Fox and Caffeine are now partnering on a venture called Caffeine Studios which will “leverage FOX Sports’ expertise in live events and programming to create exclusive esports, video game, sports, and live entertainment content,” according to 21st Century Fox. The company’s stake in Caffeine and the new venture will be a part of New Fox, the holding company for assets that aren’t part of the Disney acquisition.

As Crunchbase News previously reported, Caffeine, which was founded in 2016 by former Apple engineers Ben Keighran and Sam Roberts, competes with Twitch and YouTube Gaming. Both Twitch and YouTube Gaming enjoy the deep-pocketed support of their parent organizations, Amazon and Google, respectively.

However, Caffeine claims to have a more seamless, real time streaming experience—unlike other services that have built-in streaming delays. Further, Caffeine’s software aims to provide streamers with more targeted conversations between their close social circle and highly upvoted members of the streaming community.

This round and partnership point to Caffeine’s goal to move beyond gaming into other content categories as well. The backing of a media industry veteran like 21st Century Fox will likely boost those efforts and could give the startup a leg up in an effort to effectively compete in a crowded streaming market.

Illustration Credit: Li Anne Dias