RocaNews, an Instagram news brand with 1 million followers, has raised $4.4 million in a seed round led by Ori Allon, the co-founder and executive chair of Compass Real Estate.
Why it matters: The team plans to add gaming features to the news app it's acquiring to help boost engagement.
Driving the news: In addition to the round, the company has acquired River News, an app that provides news stories via a scrollable video feed, similar to TikTok, per RocaNews CEO Max Towey.
River's investors include Founders Fund, 406 Ventures and Scooter Braun. They are now Roca investors.
The company, which launched in early 2020, has 8 employees and is budgeted for 15 employees by the end of the year.
In addition to its social media and app presence, it also has a newsletter with 50,000 free email subscribers, per Towey.
The big picture: Towey said he isn't worried about Instagram algorithm changes because most of its traffic comes from its direct followers, not Instagram's "Explore" page.
