The Big Spenders: The Top Disclosed Media Capital Funding Rounds of 2023
The media capital landscape is constantly evolving, with new players emerging and established players adapting to stay ahead. To shed light on this dynamic environment, mediaforgrowth (MFG) recently released its “State of Media Capital Funding 2023 in 10 Charts” review. This ground-breaking analysis dissects 72 noteworthy deals from last year, offering deep insights into key trends and investment patterns.
Let's address the question most entrepreneurs have: who raised the big bucks? We will unveil the top six publicly disclosed media capital funding rounds of 2023, highlighting the exciting startups that caught investors' attention.
Important to note: As not all funding rounds have their amounts publicly disclosed, these rankings might not represent the absolute top funding rounds overall. However, they do showcase some of the most significant disclosed investments within the media capital space in 2023.
Where Capital Flowed in 2023
These six companies hail from diverse industries, but all share a common thread – innovative solutions and promising growth potential.
1. PaySend (USD 30 million): Leading the pack is PaySend, a UK-based fintech company facilitating international money transfers. This impressive raise, led by TelevisaUnivision, will fuel their expansion into new markets and solidify their position in the cross-border payments landscape.
2. KoRo (USD 21.4 million): This German online retailer specialises in organic and natural food products. KoRo's significant funding round with sevenventures reflects the growing consumer demand for healthy and sustainable food options, and will likely support their product diversification and geographical reach.
3. Nextgen (USD 10 million): This Austrian company operates in the Food & Beverage (F&B) industry, specialising in producing and distributing high-quality plant-based meat alternatives. Their sevenventures-led funding round reflects the growing popularity of plant-based options and will likely support their expansion into new markets and product development.
4. Flarin (USD 5.3 million): This UK company operates in the pharmaceutical space, offering a unique lipid-formulated ibuprofen medication for pain relief. Their funding round, which was led by ITV AdVentures, highlights the potential of innovative drug delivery methods and will likely support further research and development, as well as market expansion.
5. PitPat (USD 4.2 million): Based in the UK, PitPat develops smart wearables for pets, specifically dogs. Their funding round, which included investments from UKTV Ventures and ITV AdVentures, emphasises the increasing demand for pet technology that tracks activity, promotes wellness, and provides location tracking for pet owners.
6. Raffolux (USD 1.9 million): This UK company operates in the retail space, offering an online platform for raffling high-end luxury goods. Their UKTV Ventures-led funding underscores the evolving landscape of the luxury market and will likely fuel their platform development and user acquisition.
Building on a decade of successful investments in companies like Uber, Airbnb, Coursera, and others, we foresee more startups embracing the media capital trend in 2024. Seed and Series A stages are the most common growth phases for companies to raise their first media capital round.
If your advertising costs are over 25% of revenue and expected to rise, our MFG Fundraising Programme offers a solution. This free, four-week, hybrid program helps founders effectively raise media capital and find new funding avenues for marketing.
