‘The live internet’ start-up Banjo banks $16 million and looks to forge new media partnerships

London venture capital firm Balderton Capital has invested in news and events platform Banjo for a second time.

A Series B round worth $16 million (£9.6 million) has been closed by US technology start-up Banjo to aid the recruiting of new staff.

The business, which indexes social posts by location, time and content so that users can gain insights on the world from others, has now raised $21 million of investment since founding in 2011.

To coincide with the Series B round, Banjo has launched its Rewind function, which allows smartphone and tablet users to search for past events to find out what was said.

Balderton Capital has been joined in the round by both existing and new investors including BlueRun Ventures and Vegas Tech Fund.

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Alongside hiring what the start-up calls ‘top talent’, Banjo plans to expand its worldwide user base and enhance its enterprise platform for media partnerships.

Damien Patton, founder and CEO of Banjo, comments, ‘Within seconds on Banjo you can get caught up on the latest world event or take a breath to relive a defining moment in sports, news or entertainment history with Rewind.

‘Banjo has become part guilty pleasure, part critical source, and as I see it my job is to continue to drive features that enhance the user experience and change the game for our media partners.’

Previous funding rounds for Banjo have seen the firm close a Series A transaction in 2012, when $5 million was brought in.

Banjo’s commercial success has seen it partner with media companies including the BBC, NBC and FOX. It’s new funding will also be used to form more of these agreements.

Roberto Bonanzinga, partner at Balderton Capital, comments, ‘We are impressed Banjo has been working side by side with media companies that include NBC, FOX and BBC to report real-time events and news as they happen.

‘This type of adoption is rare for companies at this stage, and I believe this is just the beginning.’

Hunter Ruthven

Bernard Williamson

Hunter was the Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2012 to 2014, before moving on to Caspian Media Ltd to be Editor of Real Business.

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