Canela Media, a digital media tech company that owns the streaming platform Canela.TV, secured a $32 million Series A round co-led by Acrew Capital and Angeles Investors. BMO, BBG Ventures, Mighty Capital, Reinventure Capital, Portfolia’s Rising America Fund, Alumni Ventures, and Powerhouse Capital also participated in the round.
According to the company, this is one of the largest Series A raised by a Latinx-owned company and brings Canela Media’s total funding to date to $45 million. Founded by Mexican Isabel Rafferty in 2020, the startup is headquartered in New York and puts all its efforts to meet the Latinx and Spanish-speaking communities. Canela Media currently reaches over 50 million users across their OTT products and 180 Spanish content sites.
Canela Media’s flagship is its streaming platform services Canela.TV and Canela Music. Canela.TV is one of the first AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) streaming services for U.S. Hispanics which provides free access to content tailored to their language and is now approaching 10 million downloads. Canela.TV also has a wide distribution of FAST channels through partners such as Samsung, XUMO, and LG.
Launched in 2021, Canela Music features a blend of Latinx music programming, featuring various genres from Latinx Pop, Regional Mexican, Classics, Romantic, etc.
The newly raised funds will be used to help Canela Media accelerate product development, produce new original programming for Canela.TV and Canela Music, and to enable expansion further into Latin America. Later this year, Canela will roll out the Canela Kids app focused on children’s programming. The company will also be adding 95 new positions in various functions, including engineering, operations, and programming.
Since it is a free platform for users, Canela Media gets revenue from brand marketing and advertising targeted to the US Hispanic audience. “Canela Media set the standard for U.S. Hispanic consumer brand marketing in streaming media,” said Rafferty.
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“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 knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with U.S. Hispanics,” she added.
Commenting on Canela Media’s business, Richard Wolpert, venture partner at Acrew Capital, said, “We continue to see significant business opportunities and growth coming from the U.S. and Latam 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. Canela Media’s approach of “For Latinos, by Latinos” has helped them remain authentic and attract brands seeking to truly connect with multicultural audiences.”
