Streaming Startup Caffeine Receives $100 Million From 21st Century Fox
By Ford James ·
21st Century Fox have invested $100 million into Caffeine, a streaming startup based in the United Kingdom.
As streaming becomes more popular by the day, mainstream media corporations are starting to notice and become interested in the online gaming world. Twitch hosts a plethora of esports events every single week alongside the normal streamers and gameplay channels, YouTube are following suit, the industry is constantly evolving. One smaller streaming startup called Caffeine, based in Newcastle in the north of England, has received a hefty $100m investment from 21st Century Fox.
New Partners. New Funding. New Content Studio. New Hires... We have so much exciting news to share, we could barely fit it in one post! #caffeinetv #TechNews https://t.co/f6TI1zcg94 pic.twitter.com/LT6Dduxxkh
— Caffeine (@caffeine) September 5, 2018
Caffeine is focused on esports and video game entertainment, much like Twitch. Where they distance themselves is by offering a completely ad-free service, instead offering streamers and broadcasters to earn money through microtransactions. It’s currently in a “pre-release” phase which means features are still being worked on but anyone is able to jump online and start streaming now.
“The combination of the Caffeine platform with a content studio that benefits from Fox Sports’ expertise in live events and programming will help position Caffeine to deliver compelling experiences in esports, video gaming and entertainment,” 21st Century Fox chairman Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Caffeine and build something special for fans in the growing live social streaming esports and gaming space.”
“We want to bring the world together around friends and live broadcasts,” added Caffeine CEO Ben Keighran. “It’s an ambitious goal, but one we believe is attainable with the support of our amazing new partners, our awesome and ever-growing community, and the content that together, we can bring onto the platform.”
Exciting times lay in wait for Caffeine as they will no doubt continue to grow and become a more common name in online entertainment. In other gaming and esports news, the president of the Olympic Committee has bafflingly said that video games are too violent for the olympics.