Major League Baseball

Jeter, media company raise $9.5M in venture capital funding

Published Jun. 16, 2015 12:25 p.m. ET

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By Ian Casselberry

Since officially launching in February, Derek Jeter’s media company The Players’ Tribune has generated some notoriety for providing a first-hand perspective (though not often directly written) from athletes themselves, rather than through the media or team- and league-generated public relations machinery.

The site has provided some compelling insights, such as Matt Harvey detailing his recovery from Tommy John surgery, David Ortiz respondingto PED allegations, Blake Griffin criticizing Donald Sterling, and Rick Porcello revealing he signed a contract extension with the Red Sox. But there’s been little word as to how successful The Players’ Tribune has been or what sorts of revenues it might be generating during what is still considered its startup stages of development. (Legendary Entertainmentwas an initial investor.)

But nothing helps a startup and fledgling media company like a big dose of venture capital funding. On Monday, The Players’ Tribune closed a deal for $9.5 million, led by global venture capital firm NEA (New Enterprise Associates).

As Business Insider details, Jeter attended a Goldman Sachs event last year in hopes of meeting with several Silicon Valley venture capital firms and learning what sorts of technology could be implemented to help The Players Tribune grow. Upon seeing Jon Sakoda, a general partner for NEA, Jeter laid out his vision for the company and the entrepreneur was quickly intrigued by the concept.

NEA was an early significant investor in BuzzFeed, and based on that success, Sakoda says the firm is actively seeking to make more investments in “disruptive opportunities” within media.

Players Tribune President and co-founder Jaymee Messler toldTechCrunch that the VC money will go toward expanding the company’s content beyond written articles into video and radio production. The site has already dipped a toe in video content, producing a series titledSingular Focus, which follows UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman during his training regimen.

Messler also mentioned she expects the site to feature shorter lifestyle segments on athletes soon. The funding will also be used to hire more staff on the editorial, production and business sides.

The Players’ Tribune aims to eventually raise another $5.5 million in funding, according to reports.

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