StreamElements Raises $100 Million in Latest Investment Round Led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with Participation from PayPal Ventures, MoreTech, and Existing Investors
New investment round to accelerate development of production, monetization, and engagement features across livestreaming and Video on Demand platforms
LOS ANGELES, CA.--September 22, 2021-- StreamElements, the leading provider of engagement and monetization tools for live and Video on Demand (VOD) content creators, today announced it has raised $100 million in funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2[1]. It also includes participation from PayPal Ventures, MoreTech, and existing investors State of Mind Ventures, Pitango, Menorah, and Mivtach Shamir, among others. Proceeds will be used to further accelerate growth and develop new production, engagement, and monetization tools for livestreaming and VODs to benefit the existing community and to bring new talent onto the platform. To lead the company through this next growth phase, the company has bolstered its management structure, naming co-founder Gil Hirsch as CEO, Yuval Tal as COO, Jason Krebs as CBO, and Udi Hoffmann as CFO with Doron Nir now serving as President with a focus on supporting US operations and company vision. Under the terms of the transaction, Nahoko Hoshino, a senior investor for SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join the Board.
“Since launching StreamElements in 2017, it has become the leading platform in the creator economy by building great products and providing legendary service to content creators of all sizes while helping them collectively generate over a hundred million dollars,” said Gil Hirsch, CEO and co-founder of StreamElements. “With this additional funding we are bolstering our staff to strengthen and broaden our ability to enable content creators across multiple platforms to make a living doing what they love.”
“As online entertainment continues to develop as an immersive experience, the demand for authentic creator-driven content has grown exponentially”, said Nahoko Hoshino, Investment Director for SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Through a suite of broadcasting and engagement tools, StreamElements is helping creators deliver an enriched experience for audiences while monetizing content from the most popular social video platforms. This creates an exciting, new digital market between creators and fans, and we’re thrilled to be working with the company in building engagement across an ever-widening global community.”
StreamElements was founded by Or Perry, Doron Nir, Gil Hirsch, and Reem Sherman with a goal to help content creators turn their passion into a profession. This involves taking a platform agnostic approach and providing production tools and services, such as overlays, alerts, chatbots, merchandise stores, and tipping. While StreamElements currently provides robust offerings to livestreamers on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming, the new round of funding will expand the company’s reach to an even broader swath of creators, including those who focus more on uploading videos to YouTube and livestreamers on Trovo.
StreamElements’ focus on the uploaded video space and new platforms are tied to the recent momentum of consumption habits around the online viewership of gaming culture which have accelerated significantly over the past year, driven in large part by the quarantine mandates in March 2020. This includes the hours watched on Twitch doubling since that date when it crossed the 2 billion threshold in January 2021. During this same period, StreamElements experienced over 233% growth and has since continued its upward trajectory with over 1.1 million creators around the world using its broadcasting tools and services.
“YouTube currently has over 40 million active gaming channels, making it the largest gaming platform in the world,” adds Hirsch. “The bulk of this content are on demand videos which lack the real-time engagement functionality that has driven the success of the livestreamed market. We are focused on infusing on demand videos with dynamic interactive features to strengthen the communities around this type of content.”
Over 60% of the top content creators who have upwards of 20K views and followers spanning Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Live rely on StreamElements as their dashboard and source for production, engagement, and monetization. The latest funding has enabled StreamElements to build similar features for Trovo, such as overlays, a chatbot, tipping functionality, alerts, and an activity feed. Given Trovo’s momentum and the overall growth of the gaming industry, it is the perfect time to amplify their streaming offerings.
About StreamElements
StreamElements is the fastest growing provider of tools and services for livestream and Video on Demand production, monetization, audience engagement, influencer marketing, and brand sponsorships. The platform powers over 1.1 million digital content creators across Twitch, YouTube Live, Facebook Gaming, and Trovo, while enabling brands to reach this massive viewership through influencer-driven sponsorships, activations, and its creator activation platform. StreamElements offers 100% cloud-based brandable themes, overlays, and alerts, loyalty and affiliate programs, robust chat integrations, merchandise storefronts, and brand safe moderation all with legendary customer service and a commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. For more information follow the company Twitter and Blog.
Press Contact:
Elle Chambré, echambr@paypal.com
[1] As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.