Blue Wire Secures $5M Series A, Announces Snap Partnership

Podcast company Blue Wire Media raised $5 million in a recently closed Series A round.

Investors in the round included Dot Capital, Bettor Capital, Side Door Ventures and Forty5 Ventures. Dot Capital led the round, as well as a $1.2 million seed round in February.

Sports Slate

• Blue Wire currently has a network of 140 podcasts hosted by journalists, athletes, brands and teams like the Baltimore Ravens
• Athlete-hosts include Baron Davis, Greg Olsen, Ian Happ and a show by Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird
• Soccer reporter Grant Wahl launched the company’s first long-form narrative podcast, “American Prodigy,” which chronicles the career of Freddy Adu

Blue Wire is leveraging its more than 20 million podcast downloads this year to capture a chunk of the podcast ad revenue market that is projected to reach $1 billion next year. 

Also announced: a partnership with Snap. Blue Wire will produce “The Come Up,” detailing obstacles professional athletes face at the onset of their careers, in three-to-five minute videos. NBA players to be featured in the first season:

• Mo Bamba
• Fred Van Vleet
• Duncan Robinson
• Obi Toppin

The new investment will help Blue Wire create eight to 10 podcast series — which it will also try to option for film and TV.