Kumu Secures Series B Funding From SIG, Openspace, Endeavor
Philippine startup Kumu announced that it has secured an undisclosed amount in its Series B funding round, which took place less than a year after its Series A round in April 2020.
The Series B round was co-led by SIG, a global investment firm that has invested in Bytedance and Musical.ly, and Openspace Ventures, a Southeast Asian venture capital fund that's invested in Gojek and Halodoc.
“Kumu is a much needed addition to the local media landscape and has democratized content distribution in the Philippines,” said Hian Goh, co-founder and partner at Openspace Ventures. “Our continued support for the company is also a reflection of our strong conviction that the Philippines is at the cusp of a big technological wave.”
Also participating in this round of funding were Kumu’s returning investors: JG Summit’s Summit Media, Globe and Ayala’s Kickstart Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, and Gobi-Core Philippine Fund. Kumu’s newest investors include: Gentree Fund, a family office behind one of the country’s biggest conglomerates, and Endeavor Catalyst Fund, a global investment fund led by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.
“We are thrilled to back [the kumu team] as we see a huge opportunity for growth in the livestreaming space,” said Linda Rottenberg, CEO of Endeavor Global. “We believe Kumu will be a multi-billion-dollar company someday, and will serve as a tremendous example for other aspiring entrepreneurs in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.”
Kumu will use its latest round of funding to scale operations as it strives to achieve its goal of becoming the “largest participatory social network in the world.” Over 11 million registered users around the world watch live streams up to a total of 60 million times per month. Over 100,000 active Gen-Z and Millennial streamers watch at least one hour of content per day.
In the last 12 months since its Series A round, Kumu has established itself on Google Play rankings. According to App Annie, Kumu is the top grossing social app in the Philippines’ Google Play Store and also the first Filipino app to make it to the top 10 in Canada, Australia, Norway, Hong Kong, Kuwait, and more. It’s currently at number 15 in the U.S.A.
“At our core, we are a scrappy and ambitious team,” said Dana de la Vega, strategy director of Kumu. “Looking ahead, we’re excited to dream even bigger alongside our partners and investors, to further push the boundaries in content creation, and to build the most engaged ‘glokal’ Filipino community on the Internet.”
Livestreaming is a growing market that’s expected to be worth over $247 billion by 2027.
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