Video-on-demand platform We Are Colony has closed a seed investment of $2m, fast on the heels of the company’s controlled platform rollout, which culminated in an expansion to over 100 countries.
The latest seed investment round combined additional financial commitments from We Are Colony’s original angel investors, with new investments from: Archer Gray, the New York media production, finance, and venture investment company; Firestartr, the entrepreneur-led fund backing globally ambitious entrepreneurs with game-changing internet and software businesses; and Essex Innovation.
Sarah Tierney, the company’s CEO and founder, said: “This additional capital empowers We Are Colony to translate the progress we’ve made in the past year into the foundational elements of a global video destination for engaged audiences who prize early and exclusive access to titles and talent that they love.”
“In We Are Colony we saw a platform that could be a vibrant home for both original films and the kind of exclusive behind-the-scenes content that fans and film lovers value,” said Amy Nauiokas, the CEO and founder of Archer Gray. “We are thrilled to be supporting Sarah and her team as they continue to build a completely new kind of video-on-demand platform.”
We Are Colony will specifically focus on growing its library of feature films and exclusive special features, in the areas of talent-driven and strong genre titles, with a number of strategic partnerships and output deals to be announced in the coming months.
The company will also expand the team to further deliver on the narrow-targeting marketing and audience engagement expertise evidenced by the early successes of the beta.
“Digital video-on-demand has completely transformed consumer video consumption habits. We Are Colony has recognised that in this new digital world a key differentiator and success factor is to create strong sticky community bases around specific demographics of film viewers. As such, We Are Colony has effectively reinvented the special-edition film DVD for the digital age and in the process also created a new marketing and monetisation channel for distributors and studios to target this highly engaged demographic,” said Anil Hansjee, Firestartr.co and ex Digital Chief Investment Officer for major European broadcaster MTG.