Letterboxd Sells A Majority Stake After Explosive Pandemic-fueled Growth

The film-focused social media web internet web page LetterBoxd has new possession. Cofounder Matthew Buchanan presented on Friday that Tiny, a enterprise capital company, has purchased a 60 % stake throughout the platform. The New York Occasions reported that the deal values Letterboxd at over $50 million. Buchanan and fellow founder Karl von Randow will retain minority shareholder positions and proceed to influence the corporate as they insist “little or no else will trade.”

Based in 2011, Letterboxd was once as soon as once an extraordinary independently owned social group. It grew considerably all over pandemic lockdowns as homebound consumers sought new motion footage to glide (and communities to speak with). Missing the muddle of Amazon-owned IMDb, the web site and app supplied a haven for movie buffs who sought after to write and read critiques, price motion footage, create watch lists and socialize with fellow lovers.

Letterboxd’s cofounders body the transfer as so much a lot much less about promoting out to essential cash and extra a enlargement selection. “Teaming up with Tiny represents a large leap ahead for us,” Buchanan and von Randow wrote in a commentary. “We see this as an enormous win for our group, enabling us to cement Letterboxd’s long term with further belongings with out sacrificing the DNA of what makes it specific.”

The web internet web page doesn’t nowadays support tv collection, then again the founders say they’re running on some way to supply that. They insist they wish to incorporate TV displays “perfect after we know we will do it right kind.” Letterboxd partnered with Netflix previous this 365 days, bringing the streaming supplier’s concepts to the social platform.

“We’ve been massive fanatics and consumers of Letterboxd for a very long time and would perhaps merely not be further excited to enroll in forces with Matthew, Karl, and the remainder of the personnel for the long-term,” mentioned Andrew Wilkinson, Co-founder of Tiny. “If you happen to’re figuring out of items to observe, it’s since you haven’t used Letterboxd on the other hand — and we consider that the potential of awesome discovery is a large selection.”