Private Equity

SME

3 minutes

13/01/2022

Foresight leads a £5.0m Series B investment into Newsflare, a global licensing platform and marketplace for user-generated video content

  • Newsflare is a marketplace for the monetisation of user generated video (“UGV”) and currently has one of the leading fully-rights cleared UGV libraries in the world
  • Funds will be used to increase Newsflare’s global footprint, grow its talented team, and expand its Studios and Marketplace business across Europe, North America and Asia
  • £4m investment from Foresight VCT and Foresight Enterprise VCT

Click here to read the announcement as a PDF.

London, 13 January 2022: Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”), a leading listed infrastructure and SME investment manager, has made a £4m investment into Newsflare Limited (“Newsflare” or “the Company”) from its VCT funds, together with an additional £1m investment from existing investor, Edge Investments. Foresight has a well-established track record of investing in the technology, digital and media landscape across its institutional and listed funds.

Newsflare was co-founded in 2011 by Jon Cornwell, CEO, and is headquartered in London with teams in Los Angeles and New York. Newsflare is a marketplace for the monetisation of user generated video (“UGV”) and has one of the largest fully-rights cleared video libraries in the world, with over 244,000 licensable videos currently on its platform.

Over recent years, there has been a steady proliferation of high-quality digital video cameras on smartphones, drones, dashcams, GoPros and home video security systems, which has led to an explosion in the supply of UGV. As UGV is recognised as highly credible content and an effective means to drive audience growth and engagement, it’s become a key source in supplying the creative media landscape.

Newsflare shares the revenues it generates with a 45,000+ strong global member base of filmers who capture the diverse, unique and powerful new video content it licenses.

This funding round, led by Foresight Group together with existing investor Edge Investments, will enable Newsflare to grow the number of fully licensed UGV clips on its cutting-edge platform and accelerate growth. The business’ proprietary technology and Trust Algorithm™ authenticates IP ownership and allows customers – including the world’s leading media companies, brands, agencies and social media platforms – to discover and license UGV content quickly and safely.

Commenting on the investment, Jon Cornwell, CEO of Newsflare, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Foresight Group as a new investor in Newsflare at a time when the Creator Economy is being recognised as one of the commercial opportunities of the age. My thanks go out to the Newsflare team, right around the world. Their passion and commitment to our vision, our values and our mission are what has made us successful so far and are what make the next stage of our journey so exciting. Finally, thanks also to our existing investors for their unwavering belief and support over the years.”

Lindsay Duebendorfer, Investment Manager at Foresight, added: “We are looking forward to supporting Newsflare in continuing its impressive growth trajectory over the coming years, as UGV content is increasingly utilised as a key source of engaging media content. The team have extensive experience and we are pleased they have selected Foresight as their partner at this exciting inflexion point.” 

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