The rise of media capital as a sustainable financing model for startups and media giants

There’s a reason strongly-spirited frozen cocktails didn’t exist. Xīn and Voltaire was born to challenge the capabilities of alcohol and ice and push the boundaries of how cocktails can be savoured. We spoke to Grace, CEO & Founder about the story behind the brand and how they worked to allow the icy cold temperatures of sorbet to be maintained when adding the heat of an alcoholic cocktail mix. We had the pleasure of working with Grace as part of the MFG Fundraising Programme in 2023 and advising them on their first media capital fundraise. From Selfridges and Soho House to Mandarin Oriental in London, you can find Xin and Voltaire sorbet cocktails featured on London’s finest menus. And very soon you will be able to spot them on TV following their partnership with Channel 4 in the UK.

In this episode, I caught up with André, CEO and Co-Founder of Tryp. A super travel platform that makes multi-destination bookings easy. André is one of the eight founders who participated in the MFG Fundraising Programme in 2023 - a free programme for early-stage founders to raise capital solutions to fund marketing costs. We talked about how their media and fundraising strategy evolved since they left the programme, how Tryp is planning to capture market share from established players using clever advertising, and what’s next for them.

It’s the start of a new year. This means drawing a line and analysing what happened in the media capital sector in 2023, and what founders and investors should expect in 2024. Join us for this live debrief with Niko Marcel Waesche, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at GMPVC German Media Pool and Ian Whittaker, CEO at Liberty Sky Advisors, moderated by Diana Florescu, CEO & Founder at mediaforgrowth (MFG). What We Will Cover: 📍Evolution of media capital deals in the last five years 📍How growth-stage founders can take advantage of capital solutions such as media capital to fund marketing costs 📍Key sectors and channels in media capital transactions 📍Differences in media capital activity across markets and leading investors in the space 📍Insights on current trends and future directions in Media Capital Join us if you are: 📍A growth-stage startup founder seeking marketing funding solutions, 📍A VC or LP interested in the venture ecosystem's media space dynamics, 📍Or a media company and publisher exploring new venture models to diversify revenue, attract new advertisers, and optimise ad inventory.

As media companies strive to succeed in the digital realm, they are progressively turning to the promising domain of start-ups and ventures. However, given the substantial resources required and considering that success hinges on both entrepreneurial spirit and solid backing, how can established businesses identify, invest in, and nurture the digital giants of the future? Featuring senior media leaders who have implemented various forms of corporate venturing to diversify revenue and increase market share, this panel discussion looks to identify the key challenges and trends impacting the media industry, explore the panelists’ learnings and solutions, and ultimately discuss the viability of a new venture model - media capital - as a solution to meet these challenges. How can established businesses identify, invest in, and nurture the digital giants of the future?  Key challenges and trends impacting the media industry Panelists’ learnings and solutions The viability of a new venture model - media capital - as a solution to meet these challenges

Any founder will tell you that raising funds right now is tough. For consumer startups, it's even tougher. Do you cut down on marketing to save money? Or take another loan? And what's coming up next year? Join us as we explore PitPat’s story 🐾. They amplified brand awareness and tripled their revenue by getting media capital from UKTV and ITV multiple times. Andrew Nowell, the CEO, and Co-Founder, will share some of the learnings from their first TV campaign with UKTV, working out media deals, and how he convinced their current investors to say yes to these deals.

In this episode, we sat down with Callum Taylor, Head of ITV AdVentures Ignite, ITV’s startup incubator supporting young brands to start their journey into TV. We talked about: The changes impacting the media industry and how digital startups can turn challenges into opportunities. Debunking the myths of offline media and why founders should diversify their marketing mix to amplify reach. Key things startups need to get right for their first TV campaign. The power of creatives and how to design TV ads that drive profitability. Callum guided us through some fantastic graphics and insights, so we strongly encourage you to watch the video version of this episode available on our YouTube channel.

Influencer Capital is a new specialised fund compounding the influencers' media value via the startup ecosystem. In this episode, we discussed: 📍 Scott's approach to structuring media for equity deals 📍 The level of involvement influencers have in the evaluation process 📍 Why this type of funding is gaining popularity 📍 Where he sees the future opportunities for both himself and the influencer marketing equity model #mediaforgrowth #mediacapital #mediaforequity #startups #raisingcapital #advertising #brandingtips #influencer #influencermarketing

I’m Diana Florescu and on my new show Media Capital I’m talking with senior leaders at some of the world’s largest media houses, and founders of new-age brands. Exploring the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned as they keep up with the fast-changing advertising landscape; and how partnering together may bring more value than if they were to do it on their own. Media Capital is a new venture model where high-potential brands partner with established media companies to amplify reach, extend the operational runway and increase revenue. Airbnb, Uber, Coursera, and many iconic brands have raised media capital. I hope you enjoy the show and get inspired by their stories to take the first steps toward using media capital to grow your business. 

MediaCapital was the talk of the town at Alpha Wolves this March in London. It's a venture model which has a real opportunity to plug the current funding (and advertising skill) startups gap. But how well is the model working? We invited two category leaders: what3words's Head of Growth Greg Turtle and Smule's VP of Partnerships and Customer Marketing Antoaneta Hristova. Two media for equity fund managers: ITV's Sheena Amin and GMPVC's Niko Waesche and The Times Group's Brand Capital International Senior Brand Strategist Neha Kothari Ranavat. We will discuss the lessons from raising and investing 6 figure media capital deals, and their growth plans for 2023. what3words signed a deal with Channel 4 in 2020, and in 2021 it became ITV’s first media investment. Later that year, the company launched in India securing a $10 million media for growth investment from Brand Capital International. In 2022 it expanded to Germany with a €60 million media for growth investment from German Media Pool VC (GMPVC). Smule, the social singing app that lets you enjoy millions of karaoke songs, raised $200m+ in cash and media capital. Some of the investors include Tencent, Times Bridge and ProSieben.1's sevenventures.

From venture debt to revenue-based financing and service for equity, there are more and more options for founders to grow their businesses than venture capital. At Alpha Wolves in London, we were joined by Neville Taraporewalla, President at Brand Capital International, Flavia Richardson, Chief Commercial Officer at Velocity Juice and Johny Clark, Marketing, Sales and BD at Consilience Ventures to talk about alternative funding options for Series A+ startups. We discussed the following: Guests' introduction Question for Flavia: From your portfolio companies, where have you seen the biggest change in terms of stage of growth, but also thinking about the sectors as well? Where do you see the biggest gaps?  Question for Neville: In such a market where it's becoming even tougher to fundraise and then half of your money goes into marketing anyway, why should startups look at media for equity?  Question for Jonathan: What are the advantages of using Consilience as opposed to, for example, doing directly a media for equity deal or doing an equity deal or raising cash from early-stage investors? Question for Jonathan: What you are seeing in terms of your portfolio of companies, what do they need most? What is the service that gets traded the most on the platform, apart from probably cash, what other services do they need? Question for Flavia: Where do you expect, and what's the next trend, in venture capital? Where do we expect to see the biggest changes? What do you see in your portfolio companies right now? What are the biggest changes happening? Question for Neville: Where do you see the next big thing happening? What's the next big opportunity in the media for equity space? Question for Jonathan: What's next for Consilience and implicitly for your portfolio companies or companies that would like to raise money and services with Consilience?