Group Nine Media Raises $40 Million in New Funding

CommPRO Editorial StaffGroup Nine Media, parent company of The Dodo, NowThis, Thrillist and Seeker, announced it has raised a $40 million follow-on round in new funding with investments from Discovery Communications, Axel Springer SE and Lerer Hippeau. The additional funds will be used for expanding video content across its brands as well as for selected acquisitions.Group Nine has become one of the world’s largest digital-first media companies and a leading publisher on platforms where young adults spend the majority of their online time. The company has over five billion monthly views and says it has the highest engagement rate for a scaled digital media company on the social web. According to Nielsen, Group Nine reaches 40 million unique people daily in the U.S.“We founded Group Nine with the strongly held belief that the media industry was at the beginning of a massive and definitive shift to digital video and that the next generation of great brands would be built on top of the leading social platforms. In addition, we believed that scale would rule and be imperative for success and that quality content and original IP would be key to building out a truly successful digital footprint. We are very pleased to see all this come together this past year. This vote of confidence from our partners in both our vision and trajectory will allow us to lean in and grow faster and smarter,” said Ben Lerer, CEO of Group Nine Media.“Group Nine has quickly become a Big Three digital-first media company and, with 5 billion monthly streams, an integral part of Discovery’s strategy to nourish audiences across all screens and services. The company is completely on track, led by a terrific management team, with superfan brands, strong tech and data and a strategic growth plan. We are proud to make this additional investment to help Group Nine continue its momentum,” said David Zaslav, President and CEO, Discovery Communications.