Cheddar, a new live and on-demand video news startup, wants to change up business reporting. The company was founded five months ago by Jon Steinberg, the former president and COO of BuzzFeed, with a mission to create a business news channel that focuses on technology, media and brands driving innovation.
Now, Cheddar broadcasts live every day from Post 10 on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, the Sprint Flatiron Building Store and NASDAQ Marketsite. Forgoing traditional financial reporting, the company skips discussions on the Fed or state of the economy and instead features innovative companies and the drivers behind them — including both public and private entities.
Cheddar’s version of financial news is an amalgam of technology, media, startup and culture topics, and features a myriad entrepreneurial types in its broadcasts. Executives like Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio, Les Moonves, CEO of CBS and serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan have all appeared on Cheddar.
Less than a month ago, the company also launched a life and variety show called "Cheddar Life." The new programming segment has already hosted celebrities like Snooki and Akon.
While Cheddar is unique in its approach to delivering business news to a younger set — people in their 20s and 30s — the startup also stands out as a media outlet that doesn’t intend on reaching cable audiences. Instead, Cheddar’s objective is become a leading social and over-the-top (OTT) service.
“Cheddar was created from the idea for a business news channel that focuses on the technology, media and brands that everyone uses, and not focus so much on traditional financial reporting," said Cheddar's Chief Content Officer, Peter Gorenstein. "We’re very much focused on companies that are innovative in the world and doing exciting things.”
This week, the company announced that its raised a $10 million Series B round. The financing was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participating investments from Comcast Ventures and Ribbit Capital. The company plans on using the funding to expand its team and to continue to build out its programming hours in order to offer a full day of content.
Today, Cheddar has over 100,000 viewers on a daily basis. You can watch some of Cheddar’s videos for free on Facebook Live or watch its full shows under a $6.99 per month subscription on the company’s website.
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