CAA, WWE, Billy Crystal, CC Sabathia, and Gabrielle Union also joined in the raise as Jomboy Media eyes rapid expansion.
Jomboy Media, the four-year-old viral sensation multi-media company, announced a $5 million funding round on Thursday, led by Connect Ventures — an investment partnership between CAA and New Enterprise Associates.
A star-studded list of sports and entertainment icons joined Connect in the raise, including Alexis Ohanian, the WWE, Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, Billy Crystal, C.C. Sabathia, Karl-Anthony Towns, Trea Turner, Josh Hader, Noah Syndergaard, and Quinn Cook. This comes 13 months after Jomboy raised $1 million from investors including Christian Yelich, Ian Happ, Trevor Plouffe, and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
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As part of the new funding, CAA executive and Connect investor Adam Friedman will join the Jomboy Media board.
“Connect Ventures is a perfect partner for Jomboy Media,” Jomboy founder Jimmy O’Brien said. “We are really excited about their ability to scale the Jomboy Media brand across multiple verticals. We’ve enjoyed working with their team as Jomboy Media is already on track for its biggest year ever in 2022. I believe so deeply in what we can become and I love that we have a partner who shares the same enthusiasm for the future and wants to support our company in getting there.”
The new funding will be used to expand into all major North American sports, develop original content for TV and streaming platforms, develop new IP for Jomboy Media’s channels, create podcasts, produce live events around tentpole sporting events, and acquire marquee talent to join the company. Jomboy also announced a partnership with SeatGeek last month as its popularity grows among the coveted Gen-Z demographic.
Jomboy Media currently has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, several of the top podcasts in baseball, and a Twitter account with more than 500 million impressions in April, per company figures. The company also said revenues increased four times between 2019 and 2020 and 500% from 2020 to 2021.
“What [O’Brien] has built in a brief period of time is quite impressive,” Friedman said. “His ability to become the ‘people’s voice’ is only the beginning, and just a small part of his larger vision for what we all believe Jomboy Media will become. We are excited to be on this journey with him and the team.”
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