Edge Investments, an investment house focused on the creative industries sector, has backed open video platform and British media technology company Newsflare.
Newsflare is a video marketplace platform for video creators, licensing UGC video to some of the world’s biggest media players.
Newsflare matches video content to demand and distributes the content to clients and partners around the world. It provides video to a wide range of media players, such as news websites, television production companies, Facebook and other social media channels, big content networks such as MSN and AOL, as well as distribution networks such as AP (Associated Press).
In three years the ambitious Newsflare team has built a network encompassing clients in 40 countries including ABC, AOL, Associated Press, BBC, Bild.de, CBS, CNN, Daily Mail, FOX News, MailOnline, New York Post, NHK, SKY News and Yahoo.
Edge will invest GBP2.4 million for a significant minority shareholding and a seat on the board. Newsflare was identified by Edge CEO David Glick and the deal was led by David Fisher, investment director, supported by Jo Smith, investment manager.
This commitment marks the first investment from the Edge Creative Enterprise Fund, a GBP40 million fund that was launched in November 2015 with the backing of the British Business Bank.
Fisher says: “This is an exciting moment for both Edge and Newsflare. We believe the Newsflare founders Jon Cornwell and Bevan Thomas, and their dedicated team, have identified one of the key ways in which media consumption and engagement is changing and we are thrilled to back Newsflare at this crucial stage of the company’s development.
“The growth potential for the sector is enormous and we are particularly keen to support Newsflare’s expansion into the lucrative US and Japan markets. Edge has a very strong track record of identifying, nurturing and developing early stage, leading creative enterprises. In Newsflare we have selected another talented management team and an energising digital media platform that has only begun to show its potential.”
Jon Cornwell, co-founder and CEO of Newsflare, adds: “Having secured this investment from Edge, we are delighted to be working with one of the most respected names in the creative industries sector. Edge shares our vision for the huge potential of our business model in the burgeoning user-generated video market. This investment will allow us to execute our plans for growth and to achieve our ambition for Newsflare. We selected Edge over other prospective investors due to their track-record of effectively supporting management teams combined with their unrivalled network in the sector.
“In the current era, we are living through the democratisation of video – nowadays anyone can capture startling footage that can be shared in an instant: Dash-cams, GoPro’s, smartphones – devices capable of recording high-resolution video are everywhere. The Newsflare platform quickly connects the right video with the right buyer in order to meet the exploding demand for eyewitness video from a growing array of media clients from all around the world."
