French startup Brut is betting on native social video for millennials and Gen Zers with $40M in new funding; Expands with launch in the U.S.

With over 2 billion millennials and Gen Zers, there is a growing appetite for media consumption among this group of the world population. Unlike any other generations before them, millennials and Gen Zers spend a large portion of their time on smart devices. Enter Brut, a French media and entertainment startup, is betting big on native social video and is now eyeing expansion to the U.S. The startup creates short-form video content that targets millennials and Gen Zers.

Yesterday, Brut announced its expansion with launch in the U.S. Brut also announced it raised $40 million in Series B funding to continue its worldwide expansion, starting with bolstering its operations in the U.S. The round was led by Red River West and blisce, with participation fro other investors includeing Aryeh Bourkoff, Founder and CEO of LionTree LLC, and Eric Zinterhofer, Founding Partner of Searchlight Capital Partners. All investors from Brut.’s last round invested again in its Series B.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Paris, Brut. engages a global audience of 2 billion millennials and Gen Z-ers, 50 percent of whom don’t watch television at all, according to Tubular data. The media company has experienced rapid growth with viewers in over 57 countries and 10 billion video views in the last year.

“Conversation has been the biggest revolution in media consumption,” said Guillaume Lacroix, founder and CEO of Brut. “We are engaging the most aspirational audience – millennials and Gen Zers – and sparking positive social dialogue around key issues. Our editorial tackles the topics that are most important to them: social impact, the environment, accountability for power, and women and minority empowerment.”

“When traveling the world, if you want to listen to music, you go to Spotify. For television and movies, you go to Netflix. For news, there was no truly global brand…until now,” Lacroix added. “Brut. doesn’t produce endless cycles that reiterate bad news. Instead, we favor engagement over views and shine a light on how people are pursuing change – like we did with climate change activist Greta Thunberg when we published her first viral video. We want what our viewers want – to make the world a better place.”

Since becoming available recently in the U.S., Brut. America is already ranked #2 with 252 million Facebook views in August. Brut. generates 250 million UMVs, 3 billion monthly impressions and 30 million daily active viewers. Globally, the company generated 1.1 billion views in September alone across all its platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and more. Brut. reaches 6 percent of all people aged 18-34 in the world and continues to grow rapidly.

“When deciding where to invest, we look for mission-driven companies whose values are aligned with our own,” said Alexandre Mars, Founder & CEO of blisce/. “Like blisce’s previous investments in Spotify, Pinterest and Bird, we believe that Brut.’s unique global approach represents a special competitive advantage, as well as an understanding that business success and positive social impact are inextricably linked.”

Brut. has partnered with some of the world’s most recognized brands including Netflix, Airbnb, Ralph Lauren, Nike, BBC News, L’Oreal, LVMH, Kering and Orange. Through its custom brand partnerships, Brut. engages millennials with authentic stories that lead to action: 76% of millennials purchased a product after viewing a Brut. ad video.