- Round Includes Prominent Entertainment and Retail Angel Investors
talkshoplive, a Los Angeles-based livestream commerce company, announced the successful completion of a $6 million seed extension funding round led by prominent TMT-focused venture capital firm Raine Ventures and a syndicate of renowned angel investors drawing from the entertainment and retail industries. Spero Ventures, a top-performing venture capital firm, led TSL’s first seed investment round. This now brings the fast-growing startup to $10.5 million raised to date.
TSL’s seed extension financing is led by Raine Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Raine Group, which has deep relationships and expertise in media, entertainment, commerce and distribution. As TSL continues to expand adoption of its proprietary shoppable and embeddable player, the partnership with Raine creates additional opportunities for mass livestream commerce adoption.
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“We could not be more excited and grateful to be joining with Raine. Raine’s experience in evolving consumer trends to mainstream global behaviors is both differentiated and is the perfect match for TSL’s next phase of growth,” said Bryan Moore, co-founder and CEO of talkshoplive. “Gordon Rubenstein and Raine, along with an incredible syndicate of angel investors, bring unique insights and credibility, adding tremendous value to TSL as we expand our network worldwide.”
The seed extension financing will accelerate the expansion of TSL’s embeddable player network, scale product management and technical teams, and operationalize increased demand from sellers and customers worldwide. Since launching its embeddable player in Q2 of 2019, TSL’s user base and average sales have continued to grow across categories. In 2021 sales have grown on average 85 percent month over month, with Q1 2021 sales increasing over 440% compared to the quarter in 2020.
“Our team has closely watched the development of live commerce in the US and reviewed a number of different strategies in the space. We believe that talkshoplive has a differentiated technology and strategy that will continue to drive adoption of live commerce,” Gordon Rubenstein, Managing Partner of Raine Ventures, said. “In the case of TSL, not only is there a clear value proposition that engages, supports, and aligns incentives of all key players across the retail landscape, but also a fantastic team. We are thrilled to partner with TSL, and to support the team as they cement their leadership position in livestream commerce.”
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In addition to Raine, a syndicate of prominent angel investors are joining the seed extension financing. This syndicate includes:
- Matt Blank, Former Chairman & CEO of Showtime, and Director of Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Cumulus Media, and CuriosityStream
- David Levy, Chairman of Genius Sports and former President of Turner
- Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti, Founder of Vivre, V by Eva, and retail visionary
- Jeff Lotman, CEO of Fred Segal & Global Icons
- Andrew Rosen, Founder of Theory
- Austin Rosen, Founder Electric Feel Entertainment, Electric Feel Ventures
- Richard Rosenblatt, Founder of Whip Media, Demand Media, Intermix, and iMall
Focused on driving adoption through the embeddable player, TSL has ignited interest and partnerships across retail and publication ecosystems. In June, TSL launched with both Hearst and Conde Nast in collaboration with Oprah Daily and Bon Appetit. Both events garnered thousands of viewers, creating shoppable moments directly within the publication’s environment.
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