Mark Cuban’s interactive platform Fireside, which helps creators reach audiences through live and virtual shows, is in talks to increase its Series A funding round and plans to advance across web3 and the metaverse within months, said two sources familiar with the matter.
Fireside is engaging with investors to raise about $25 million on a $125 million valuation, the sources said, requesting anonymity as deliberations are ongoing and private.
The platform has managed to attract a number of high-profile creators to its platform, including Jay Leno, Michael Dell, and Entourage writer and creator Doug Ellin.
The app gives creators the ability to distribute their shows everywhere (outside the app) with the click of a button and provides them with what it calls “sophisticated analytics” to help them understand the type of content that is being used. resonating well with the public in real time.
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The startup — founded by Cuban and Falon Fatemi, a Google alumnus who also co-founded customer intelligence platform Node — plans to launch NFTs and have a metaverse in the second quarter of this year to help creators monetize their work, the companies said. sources. It is also exploring holding a community DAO, they said.
It is also in early discussions with several companies, including Netflix, for a strategic partnership, one of the sources said.
Fireside declined to comment.
The startup, which counts Cuban, The Chainsmokers, HBSE, Goodwater, Animal Capital and NFL stars Larry Fitzgerald and Kelvin Beachum and former NBA star Baron Davis among its sponsors, has raised about $8 million to date, said a person familiar with the matter.
In November, Ploonge reported on Fireside’s efforts to raise a “seed+” funding round.
“For the first time, whether Web2, Web3 or VR, we have a tactile platform that allows content creators to hear and see how their audience is responding to live content. It’s as close to real life as you can get,” Cuban told Ploonge at the time.
Several startups, including Clubhouse, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, and entrepreneur and investor David Sacks, Callin, are betting that the next wave of social media will allow creators to directly engage with their fans and change the economic models of how and what that they earn.