Cheddar Raises $22M Series D Round; “Post-Cable” Business Network Expanding Into News, Overseas

Cheddar, which bills itself as a “post-cable” media network covering the business world, said it has raised a $22 million Series D round of financing, which includes new investors such as Liberty Global and Goldman Sachs.

Existing investors, including major media players AT&T, Amazon, Comcast Ventures and Altice USA, all participated in the Series D round, which valued the company at $140 million prior to the round.

The company plans to use the new funds to expand internationally and to launch a second live news network. Cheddar Big News, according to a press release, will deliver “non-partisan, national news with the style and sentiment of local news.”

Simon Freer, Chief Commercial Officer of Liberty Global’s content investments arm, said Liberty, the No. 1 cable operator in Europe, has invested as a first step in a larger partnership between the two companies. “Cheddar is the leader in live digital news video, and owns all its IP,” he said. “We believe Cheddar can go global, and we are excited to collaborate with the company to make that a reality.”

Jon Steinberg, who was president and COO of BuzzFeed from 2010 to 2014, founded the millennial-skewing Cheddar in 2016 as a destination for news not just about traditional finance but also innovation and technology. Rather than relying on traditional distribution methods or carriage deals, it built an audience through a mix of live streams and on-demand programming available on Facebook, Twitter, Sling TV, Amazon and select smart-TVs. The network broadcasts from the New York Stock Exchange, the Sprint Store in New York’s Flatiron Building, a We Work location in L.A. and the White House.

The full roster of new investors taking part in the round, which was led by Raine Ventures, includes Antenna Group, 7 Global Capital, Dentsu Ventures and the family office of Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher.