Female-owned media startup Canela raises $3 million in seed funding to support the expansion of free Latino streaming service Canela.TV

Canela Media is a New York-based minority and female-owned leading digital media tech startup that provides a streaming service that enriches the new generation of U.S. Latinos through its online platform Canela.TV. Launched in May 2020, Canela.TV entertainment platform provides free access to unique, culturally relevant content.

With more than 8,000 hours of entertainment for adults and children including comedies, docuseries, novels, cartoons, dramas, and action films, Canela bilingual video-on-demand to millions of American Latinos. Canela aims to disrupt the television model and serve as the destination for premium video at home and on-the-go.

Today, the majority-female and BIPOC syndicate Canela announced it has closed a $3 million Seed round to drive the continued growth of the recently launched free streaming service Canela.TV, which provides culturally relevant content to U.S. Latinos. The round, which brings the company’s total funding this year to $5 million, was co-led by BBG Ventures and Reinventure Capital and joined by Mighty Capital, Angeles Investors, Portfolia’s Rising America Fund, and Alumni Ventures Group.

“We launched Canela Media in response to a large and growing market need. The Hispanic market represents a huge opportunity for brands, but the platforms to reach this audience have been very limited. This funding will not only aid in growing and improving our flagship product, Canela.TV, but it will also fuel our goal of becoming the leading digital media company connecting with U.S. Latinos,” said Isabel Rafferty, Founder and CEO of Canela Media. “I am grateful for the opportunity our investors are giving us and applaud them for empowering other women to break stereotypes and raise the profile of Latinos in this country. The response to Canela.TV thus far has been overwhelmingly positive, and we plan to continue delivering on bringing diverse, high-quality programming to our audience.”

The funding comes amidst the current pandemic environment, where VC deals with startups funded exclusively by women dropped to 4.3% in the first quarter of the year vs. 7.1% in Q1 2019 according to PitchBook data. Furthermore, VCs only allocate 2.2% of their funding to female founders and for Latinas, this percentage drops down to a negligible 0.4%, with very little funding allocated to tech projects. The capital raised is not only a testament to the opportunity that exists for brands to connect with U.S. Hispanic consumers but the importance of females elevating and empowering Latina entrepreneurs.