Subscription podcast company Quake raises $3.5 million in new funding round

Quake, a subscription podcast company founded by media veterans, has raised an additional $3.5 million, Axios has learned.

Details: The round was led by Chicago Ventures with participation from a few individual investors, including Cameo founder and CEO Steven Galanis and SpotHero founder and CEO Mark Lawrence.

• "We're very encouraged by Quake's early conversion and retention metrics," said Stuart Larkins, a co-founder and partner at Chicago Ventures.
• "[W]e're looking forward to growing their audience strategically through targeted marketing, adding new political shows (including even more shows with video), and content verticals for passionate communities in sports, religion and more."
• Executives say the network has seen around a 90% retention rate following the one-week free trial and close to a 90% retention rate on monthly churn after free trial expires.

Flashback: Quake launched last year with $2.5 million in seed funding. The new round brings the company's total funding to $6 million.

• The network features exclusive podcasts from high-profile news talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham, Gretchen Carlson, Marc Lamont Hill and Buck Sexton, for a monthly fee of $2.99.
• Its founders include Mike Morrell, a former ESPN journalist and Bleacher Report executive, and Doug Rosenberg, a former political executive who launched one of the first Spanish-language syndicated radio shows in 2012.

The big picture: The raise is part of a wider industry push around podcast subscriptions and exclusive content. Apple and Spotify both launched podcast subscription offerings this year.