BDMI was among the investors in a seed round raised in preparation for the launch of Venn's gaming and esports television network next year.

US-based gaming and esports streaming network Venn has emerged with $17m in seed funding from investors including Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), a corporate venturing vehicle for media group Bertelsmann.

Venture capital fund Bitkraft Esports Ventures led the round, which also featured esports holding company Axiomatic, multi-family office Lifeline Financial Group, Reimagined Ventures and angel investors Marc Merrill, Mike Morhaime, Amy Morhaime, Kevin Lin and YuChiang Cheng.

Venn plans to launch its ‘post-cable’ television network in 2020 and will produce…

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.