Canela Media closes $32m Series A funding
February 25, 2022
Canela Media, a digital media technology company, has announced the completion of an oversubscribed $32 million (€28.6m) Series A funding round.
The investment was co-led by Acrew Capital and Angeles Investors with participation from Link Ventures, TEGNA Ventures and Samsung NEXT. BMO Harris Bank provided an additional $10 million of capital. In addition, existing investors BBG Ventures, Mighty Capital, Reinventure Capital, Portfolia’s Rising America Fund, Alumni Ventures and Powerhouse Capital, continued its participation, bringing Canela Media’s total funding to date to $35 million.
The financing will be used to help Canela Media accelerate product development, produce original programming for its flagship products Canela.TV and Canela Music, and to enable expansion further into Latin America. Later this year, Canela will roll out the Canela Kids app focused on children’s programming. The company will also be adding 95 new positions in various functions, including engineering, operations and programming.
Richard Wolpert, venture partner at Acrew Capital, stated: “We continue to see significant business opportunities and growth coming from the U.S. and Latam Hispanic consumer segment, particularly in streaming media where consumers are looking for viewing options tailored to not only their language, but also their content consumption desires. Canela Media’s approach of ‘For Latinos, by Latinos” has helped them remain authentic and attract brands seeking to truly connect with multicultural audiences.”
“Canela Media set the standard for US Hispanic consumer brand marketing in streaming media,” added Isabel Rafferty (pictured), Founder and CEO of Canela Media. “From inception, we made it our mission to serve the underrepresented US Hispanic consumer, while bridging the gap to multicultural audiences for marketers. We look forward to helping more brands capitalise on our unparalleled and in-depth knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with US Hispanics.”
“We believe this team, combined with its truly unique platform and approach, will unlock the full potential of the US consumer market,” commented Rodrigo Garcia, advisor at Angeles Investors. “Our firm’s investment philosophy is all about finding the most exciting startups, funding the most disruptive and fastest growing business models and growing the impact of Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurs in the US economy. With Canela Media, we have discovered the perfect match.”