Recast, the pioneering Edinburgh-based fintech-for-media platform, has successfully closed a $5 million funding round. This round was led by prominent US-based venture capital firm Morpheus Ventures, with additional investments from Airstream Ventures and Cooley.
Recast aims to grant consumers access to any digital content while ensuring a fair and immediate value exchange for everyone involved. Its innovative technology allows media owners to maximise distribution, monetisation, and first-party data capture, effectively addressing the issues of subscription fatigue and churn. The new investment will support further development of Recast’s API-centric smart payment platform and enhance its micro-payment wallet, enabling the sale of digital commodities across the internet, beyond its current focus on video and live streams.
Morpheus Ventures, renowned for supporting transformative technology companies, recognised Recast’s potential to revolutionise the media fintech landscape. Joseph Miller, Managing Partner of Morpheus Ventures, commented, “Much like Shopify revolutionised e-commerce with its versatile platform, Recast is set to transform digital content monetisation and distribution. Supported by Recast’s advanced smart payment platform and micro-payment wallet, we are confident that Recast has developed the right product at the right time.”
Airstream Ventures, co-founded by Gavin Petken, former Head of Investments at Business Growth Fund, and Ed Woodward, former Executive Vice-Chairman of Manchester United, also reinforced its initial investment. Petken remarked, “Recast’s proven data capture and monetisation capabilities made our decision easy. With a significant portion of the world’s population under 24 and a shift towards direct-to-consumer models, particularly in sports, Recast’s model excels. Recast’s solution enables rights owners to quickly and seamlessly unlock latent value from customers, making it a perfect fit for the Airstream Ventures portfolio.”
Originally founded as a destination streaming platform, Recast has evolved into a fintech solution integrated into media owners’ digital platforms. This funding will enable Recast to further develop its smart payment platform and micro-payment wallet through an open API, extending its capabilities beyond video to any digital assets, enabling configurable rewards, and integrating multiple digital currencies.
Recast’s Proprietary Technology Includes:
Smart Payment Platform: Manages pricing and media distribution effortlessly, ensuring earnings are content asset-specific and received instantly by media owners and related parties directly from the consumer.
Smart Syndication Engine: Integrates Recast’s solution onto media owners’ platforms, significantly amplifying reach and revenues. By engaging athletes, influencers, and affiliates, the syndication engine ensures they earn a fee from every sale generated via media they host or share, creating a robust, self-sustaining ecosystem of content distribution and monetisation.
Innovative Digital Wallet: Establishes a value exchange between advertisers, content owners, and consumers, incentivising actions like survey participation or sharing content or data. The wallet facilitates micropayments or single transactions directly and immediately to the content owner.
Andy Meikle, CEO of Recast, stated, “Our fundamental belief has always been to ensure universal access to content while ensuring fair and immediate value exchange for everyone involved. What began as a streaming service has now transformed into a dynamic fintech platform for the entire media industry. With Cooleys’ legal prowess, Airstream Ventures’ deep connections in sports, media, and entertainment, and Morpheus Ventures’ extensive network and track record, we have the right strategic ingredients to realise our vision.”
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Edinburgh-based fintech platform Recast raises $5 million in funding round led by Morpheus Ventures