Media-related startup funding is one of many areas that hasn’t come close to recapturing record levels set a few years ago.
Nonetheless, we are seeing some large rounds getting done in the space of late. Confirmation of a fresh funding for one prominent company came this weekend, as MUBI, a streaming platform for independent films, closed on $100 million from Sequoia Capital.
Founded in 2007, London-based MUBI (formerly the Auteurs) pitches itself as “a place to discover ambitious films by visionary filmmakers.” It sells a monthly subscription to an international cross section of works, including many film festival award winners.
Its financing comes amid a sluggish period for venture funding in the media space. As charted below, funding to Crunchbase media-related industry categories has totaled around $10 billion annually in the past two calendar years — down more than two-thirds from the 2021 peak.
So far, 2025 looks on track to produce a funding total similar to last year. While we haven’t seen much activity around streaming platforms such as MUBI, we are seeing artificial intelligence-focused startups in the media space attract investors’ wallets and attention.
One of the larger rounds this year went to Runway, a developer of AI models for media generation that raised $308 million in an April round. The new round — led by General Atlantic — values the AI video startup at more than $3 billion, about double its valuation from less than two years ago.
Two other AI-centric media upstarts — ElevenLabs and Synthesia — also secured rounds of $180 million each. ElevenLabs offers AI tools for generating voiceovers, while Synthesia provides tools for turning text into videos.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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