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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Home From College, a Los Angeles-based career platform, has raised $5.4 million in seed funding, CEO Julia Haber tells Kerry.

Why it matters: A crop of LinkedIn competitors has emerged to better serve the needs of modern job seekers.

How it works: The Gen Z-aimed platform offers part-time and full-time roles. It allows brands to hire, manage and pay workers. Gigs include content creation, on-campus brand ambassadors, product testing and more.

The platform has more than 100,000 users and more than 100 clients, including Poppi, Aquaphor, Thrive Market, Peacock and Steve Madden.

Home From College charges clients a monthly subscription fee that varies by number of jobs and a 20% service fee on top of the payments to workers.

Context: While at Syracuse University, Haber founded an experiential marketing agency, WAYV, to help brands reach students. That involved building pop-up retail locations on college campuses. She would often hear attendees ask about work opportunities at the brands.

"'Who am I going to be post-grad?' was a much bigger problem to solve and one that could be solved through tech rather than building out these 40-foot trailers and schlepping them across the country," Haber says.

"The No. 1 thing we heard was that students don't have anything to put on their resume," she added.

Her co-founder, Kaj Zandvliet, previously worked at Sony and PineBridge Investments. They bought the domain HomeFromCollege.com in March 2020.

Fun fact: Haber and Zandvliet got engaged last year.

Zoom in: GV led the round and was joined by PEAK6, Lauren and Michael Bostick and Black Angel Group.

Home From College previously raised $1.5 million.

What's next: The startup plans to grow from eight full-time employees to 12 by year-end and add more products for job seekers.

1 big thing: Gigs for college students

an illustration of a vintage heather grey sweatshirt with the words "pay to the order of" on it 

Bitkraft Ventures has raised $275 million to invest in gaming studios and tech, founding general partner Jens Hilgers tells Kerry.

Why it's the BFD: The fund further fuels the Denver-based VC firm's dominance as one of the most active investors in early-stage gaming companies.

Zoom in: Bitkraft Venture Fund 3 is its third fund targeting seed and Series A funding.

It typically invests as the lead in seed rounds that total between $3 million and $10 million, while Series A rounds are between $10 million and $20 million.

The latest fund brings its total assets under management to $1 billion across six funds.

Context: Hilgers started investing in 2015 after ESL, the esports organization he co-founded, was acquired. He formally launched Bitkraft in 2017.

Venture Fund I launched in 2019 with $166 million and Fund II in 2021 with $274 million.

Its portfolio of more than 130 companies includes gaming studio Frost Giant, in-game advertising platform Anzu, mobile gaming platform Carry1st and social platform Inworld. Notable late-stage investments include Discord and Epic Games.

It has more than 20 staffers working across Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

What they're saying: "When I got started in the '90s, gaming was 15% of the entertainment industry. Now it's the largest part of it, but it's still far from being done ... [as] basically all of humanity spends an ever-increasing amount of time in digital realities and simulated worlds," Hilgers says.

What's next: Bitkraft plans to back 30 to 35 companies with the new fund. Hilgers says his firm is exploring more investments in India and is monitoring AI developments and the growth of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.

2. The BFD: New gaming fund

Illustration of a hundred dollar bill as a video game controller. 

Go deeper in our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• TechGrid, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based business platform for technology providers, raised $9.2m in Series A funding led by Bellini Capital. https://axios.link/3xtnsip

• Higgsfield AI, an SF-based social media video creation startup, raised $8m in seed funding. Menlo Ventures led and was joined by Charge Ventures, Bitkraft Ventures, K5 Tokyo Black, AI Capital Partners and DVC. https://axios.link/3vCF1w0

• Lil Snack, a Los Angeles-based game studio making daily mini games, raised $3.1m in pre-seed funding. Lerer Hippeau led and was joined by Waverley Capital, A16Z Games Speedrun and Powerhouse Capital. https://axios.link/4aptJus

• Silver Lake agreed to acquire all of Endeavor Group Holdings (NYSE: EDR) for $13b. It's already Endeavor's largest shareholder. https://axios.link/3PJtmSY

• Silver Lake is investing $250m in a media company by Endeavor's executive chairman Patrick Whitesell. https://axios.link/3xmhXlJ

• Fab Factor Entertainment acquired a minority stake in In The Black, an ad-supported streaming platform featuring original series by Black voices. https://axios.link/4cF7y4O

• Laton Ventures, a Turkish VC firm focused on gaming, raised $35m for its debut fund. https://axios.link/3VPrSd

3. Deal flow

• Jonathan Glickman, former MGM Motion Picture Group president, joined Miramax as CEO, succeeding Bill Block. https://axios.link/3xmlbpq

• Scott Donaton, a former Hulu marketing executive, is joining VersusGame, an AI-powered interactive content company, as CMO. https://axios.link/3J3OBv1

• Kylie McRoberts was named the new head of safety for X. Yale Cohen, previously of Publicis, was named head of brand safety and advertiser solutions. https://axios.link/4aE7al9

• Jillian Holch, formerly an agent at A3, joined Verve. https://axios.link/3PIqciw

• Emma Clarke, a former Gersh agent, joined Currents Management. https://axios.link/3vMKTCV

• Alex Cooper, host of "Call Her Daddy," is joining NBCUniversal's Olympics coverage this summer. She will host "Watch with Alex Cooper," a series of live interactive watch parties streaming on Peacock. https://axios.link/4cIZZKw

4. Movin' on up (or out)

🐭 As Disney proxy fight nears end, succession saga will keep heat on Bob Iger regardless of shareholder vote tally (Deadline)

"However, with the contest much tighter than anticipated, the talk in many showbiz circles is that the company will need to get out in front on who will be the next CEO soon after the proxy dust has settled," Dade Hayes, Jill Goldsmith and Dominic Patten write.

💰 Trump Media saved in 2022 by Russian-American under criminal investigation (The Guardian)

"Donald Trump's social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation," Hugo Lowell writes.

🏀 Iowa, LSU make history as most-watched women's college basketball game ever (Axios)

"ESPN said Tuesday that an average of 12.3 million viewers watched the Hawkeyes defeat LSU 94-87. Viewership peaked at 16.1 million, the network said. The match was also ESPN's second-most-watched college basketball game since 2012 and the four Elite Eight games were the most watched on record, the network said," Rebecca Falconer writes.

5. Channel surfing

Illustration of a remote control in the shape of a surfboard leaning against a VW bus.

Greetings from Arlington, Media Deals readers!

👋 Situational awareness: Axios Pro Deals and Policy teams are hanging out IRL today at our Arlington, Va. HQ. Rainy weather won't ruin our fun!

Also: Disney's annual meeting kicks off at 10am PT, when the results of Trian's proxy fight will be tallied. Stay tuned for our alert and story. 

@tim_bays: "Cash Cab" on AXS TV. I had no idea this show was still on, which means I still have a chance to get in the right cab. 

@kerrymflynn: "A Star is Born" on HBO. Stayed up late rewatching this sad film but got me excited for Lady Gaga in Joker 2. 

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Katie Lewis for copy editing this newsletter.

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April 03, 2024

1 big thing: Gigs for college students