Female-Owned Canela Media Secures Seed Round Funding To Support The Expansion Of Canela.TV
Investment in the Streaming Service Was Raised by a Majority of Female-Led VC's
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Canela Media, an industry-leading, Latina-owned digital media company announced today that it has closed a $3 million Seed round, bringing total funding this year to $5 million. The investment represents a significant growth milestone for the company that has primarily bootstrapped its way to #4 in Hispanic audience market reach. The majority-female and BIPOC syndicate was co-led by BBG Ventures and Reinventure Capital and joined by Mighty Capital, Angeles Investors, Portfolia's Rising America Fund, and Alumni Ventures Group.
The new capital will be used to drive the continued growth of the recently launched free streaming service Canela.TV, that provides culturally relevant content to U.S. Latinos.
"We launched Canela Media in response to a large and growing market need. The Hispanic market represents a huge opportunity for brands, but the platforms to reach this audience have been very limited. This funding will not only aid in growing and improving our flagship product, Canela.TV, but it will also fuel our goal of becoming the leading digital media company connecting with U.S. Latinos," said Isabel Rafferty, Founder and CEO of Canela Media. "I am grateful for the opportunity our investors are giving us and applaud them for empowering other women to break stereotypes and raise the profile of Latinos in this country. The response to Canela.TV thus far has been overwhelmingly positive, and we plan to continue delivering on bringing diverse, high-quality programming to our audience."
The funding comes amidst the current pandemic environment, where VC deals with startups funded exclusively by women dropped to 4.3% in the first quarter of the year vs. 7.1% in Q1 2019 according to PitchBook data. Furthermore, VCs only allocate 2.2% of their funding to female founders and for Latinas this percentage drops down to a negligible 0.4%, with very little funding allocated to tech projects. The capital raised is not only a testament to the opportunity that exists for brands to connect with U.S. Hispanic consumers, but the importance of females elevating and empowering Latina entrepreneurs.
Reinventure Capital Managing Director Julianne Zimmerman commented, "Reiventure Capital is delighted to join Canela Founder / CEO Isabel Rafferty, the Canela team, BBG Ventures, and the entire syndicate in building on Canela's existing success to create a high-value company reshaping the mainstream media sector for the benefit of its stakeholders."
Susan Lyne, General Partner and Co-founder of BBG Ventures who has had a long career in media, commerce and consumer products including Past-President of ABC Entertainment and former CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, added: "In less than a year, Canela.TV has shown that there is a huge demand for quality Spanish-language programming. We believe that Isabel and the Canela team are perfectly positioned to deliver on the market potential of this growing audience by delivering streaming services built just for Hispanic and Latinx viewers. BBG Ventures is thrilled to be on this journey with them."
For additional information on Canela Media please visit: https://www.canelamedia.com/
ABOUT CANELA MEDIA
Canela Media is a leading digital media tech company offering brands a complete ecosystem to connect with multicultural audiences leading with its free streaming service, Canela.TV, offering on-demand Latino-focused movies and TV entertainment through multiple platforms. Additionally, Canela Media reaches more than 20 million unique Hispanics across its 180+ premium Spanish-language sites and influencer database. Combined with the company's proprietary data, Canela Media possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with the new mainstream – U.S. Hispanics. Headquartered in New York, Canela Media is ranked as the fourth largest Hispanic ad-focused company and is female- and minority-owned. For more information please visit http://www.CanelaMedia.com.
SOURCE Canela Media
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