Buzz had been building over the last week about Patreon, a crowdfunding service that’s growing in popularity among podcasters. The company had stated publicly that it’d be making a big announcement today and indeed, they did. Patreon is receiving $15 million in series A funding from a group of big-name investors including Alexis Ohanian (cofounder of Reddit), Sam Altman (President of Y Combinator), David Marcus (former President of Paypal) and others.
This isn’t the first time Patreon has taken venture capital. In 2013, the company received $2.1 million in funding from some of the same investors. And it looks like that initial investment paid off. Patreon rolled out some impressive facts about what the service has achieved so far:
- *Revenue grew 10x in a five month period.
- *Patreon now has over 25,000 creators using the service.
- *Patreon has sent over $2 million to its creators.
Patreon already has plans in place for this new funding. The company is going to build mobile apps for multiple platforms, hire new engineers and other staff members, move out of a 2-bedroom apartment into a dedicated office space in San Francisco and more.
All of the feedback I’ve seen so far on this announcement has been positive. But Patreon cofounder Jack Conte was concerned that some of the service’s creators might be upset by the news. He said, “Because we’re so cognizant of how venture capital can also be a dangerous thing, we do want to make sure our creators know how thoughtful this round was. We spent a long time meeting a lot of folks.”
Are you using Patreon with your podcast? What do you think of Patreon’s new venture capital funding?
Posted by Shawn Thorpe