Canela Media, the Latino-owned digital media technology company, said it raised $32 million in a series A funding round.
The funds raised will be used to accelerate product development and produce original programming for Canela TV and Canela Music and help the company expand further into Latin America. The company also plans to rollout a Canela Kids app.
The round was led by Acrew Capital and Angeles Investors, with participation from Link Venture, Tegna Ventures and Samsung Next. Previous inventors BBG Ventures, Mighty Capital, Reinventure Capital, Portfolia’s Rising America Fund, Alumni Ventures, Powerhouse Capital and BMO also participated.
Canela, led by founder and CEO Isabel Rafferty, has now raised a total of $35 million.
"Canela Media set the standard for U.S. Hispanic consumer brand marketing in streaming media," said Rafferty. "From inception, we made it our mission to serve the underrepresented U.S. Hispanic consumer, while bridging the gap to multicultural audiences for marketers. We look forward to helping more brands capitalize on our unparalleled and in-depth knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with U.S. Hispanics.”
Rafferty said the company plans to add 95 new positions, mainly in engineering, operations, and programming.
“We continue to see significant business opportunities and growth coming from the U.S. and Latin Hispanic consumer segment, particularly in streaming media where consumers are looking for viewing options tailored to not only their language, but also their content consumption desires,” said Richard Wipert, venture partner at Acrew Capital. “Canela Media’s approach of “For Latinos, by Latinos'' has helped them remain authentic and attract brands seeking to truly connect with multicultural audiences.”
Canela noted that Latino, who represent 18% of the population, create more business ventures per capita than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group, but they receive less than 2% of all venture funding.
"We believe this team, combined with its truly unique platform and approach, will unlock the full potential of the U.S. consumer market,” said Rodrigo Garcia, advisor at Angeles Investors. “Our firm’s investment philosophy is all about finding the most exciting startups, funding the most disruptive and fastest growing business models and growing the impact of Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy. With Canela Media, we have discovered the perfect match.” ■
