(the founders of Newsflare: Bevan Thomas, left, and Jon Cornwell)
The first investment has been made by the £40m Edge Creative Enterprise Fund.
The fund, managed by the specialist investment house Edge Investments, is to invest £2.4m for a significant minority shareholding in Newsflare, an open video platform and British media technology company. The deal includes a seat on the board.
Edge focuses on the creative industries sector, particularly media and entertainment.
Newsflare is a video marketplace platform for video creators and licenses UGC video to some of the world’s biggest media players, matching content to demand. It distributes the content to clients and partners around the world. Video is supplied to a wide range of media players, including news websites, television production companies, social media channels (including Facebook), big content networks(MSN and AOL) and distribution networks (Associated Press).
The £40m Edge Creative Enterprise Fund was launched in November 2015, with the backing of the British Business Bank, to boost Britain’s creative industries.
The deal was put together at Edge by CEO David Glick, who identified Newsflare, and Investment Director David Fisher, who led the deal, supported by Investment Manager Jo Smith.
Fisher said: “This is an exciting moment for both Edge and Newsflare. We believe the Newsflare founders Jon Cornwell and Bevan Thomas, and their dedicated team, have identified one of the key ways in which media consumption and engagement is changing and we are thrilled to back Newsflare at this crucial stage of the Company’s development.
“The growth potential for the sector is enormous and we are particularly keen to support Newsflare’s expansion into the lucrative US and Japan markets. Edge has a very strong track record of identifying, nurturing and developing early stage, leading creative enterprises. In Newsflare we have selected another talented management team and an energising digital media platform that has only begun to show its potential.”
Co-Founder and CEO of Newsflare Jon Cornwell said: “Having secured this investment from Edge, we are delighted to be working with one of the most respected names in the creative industries sector. Edge shares our vision for the huge potential of our business model in the burgeoning user-generated video market. This investment will allow us to execute our plans for growth and to achieve our ambition for Newsflare. We selected Edge over other prospective investors due to their track-record of effectively supporting management teams combined with their unrivalled network in the sector.
“In the current era, we are living through the democratisation of video – nowadays anyone can capture startling footage that can be shared in an instant: Dash-cams, GoPro’s, smartphones – devices capable of recording high-resolution video are everywhere. The Newsflare platform quickly connects the right video with the right buyer in order to meet the exploding demand for eyewitness video from a growing array of media clients from all around the world.”
