by Natalie Jarvey
Latino YouTube network MiTu has raised $10 million in funding from lead investor Upfront Ventures and existing investors.
The Culver City digital media firm will use the funding to build out production facilities in Los Angeles and Mexico City. It will also hire additional engineering and sales staff to support application development.
MiTu was founded by CEO Doug Greiff, Beatriz Acevedo andRoy Burstin in 2012 and has since grown to work with more than 1,200 YouTube creators that have a combined 40 million subscribers and 400 million monthly views. MiTu president Acevedo was named to THR's inaugural Silicon Beach Power 25 list for her work growing the business.
"Latinos are a high demand demo, driving population growth yet their media choices have been limited," Acevedo said. "We are the leading digital media company for Latinos, we create culturally-relevant content, discover new break-out talent and are a fresh alternative for advertisers, networks, studios and global Hispanic audience."
Lead investor Upfront Ventures was one of the early investors in Maker Studios, which recently sold to Disney for up to $950 million. Managing partner Mark Suster led the investment in MiTu.
"When I met the team at MiTu I knew they understood the mixture of Latino meets online video better than anybody else I had met and became excited to be a partner with them," Suster said.
MiTu, which focuses on lifestyle verticals such as health, beauty and home, recently expanded into pop culture with the launch of the Macho channel. The anchor show, El Show With Chuey Martinez, is currently being adapted into a late-night series for HLN. The network is backed by existing investors that include The Chernin Group, Machinima chairman Allen DeBevoise and Advancit Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Shari Redstone and Jason Ostheimer.
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