Social live streamer Caffeine has announced a $100 million investment round led by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. The much hyped platform, founded by two of Apple’s former star designers, also announced a partnership with concert giant Live Nation.
Caffeine.tv previously received $46 million in funding in two rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners.
The platform is seen as an alternative to the more popular Twitch live gaming platform. But both clearly have greater ambitions as broader online entertainment platforms.
21st Century Fox Sports will create content for the video platform, as will new partner Live Nation, which will offer streaming concerts starting in the last quarter of this year.
“We want to bring the world together around friends and live broadcasts,” Twitch CEO Ben Keighran said in a statement. “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.”
“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,” added Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman of 21st Century Fox. “We are excited to partner with Caffeine and build something special for fans in the growing live social streaming esports and gaming space.”