21st Century Fox invests $100m into streaming startup Caffeine

Caffeine, a new streaming platform focuses on video games and other forms of entertainment, has received $100 million in funding from 21st Century Fox.

The TV and film giant led a new investment round for Caffeine, with additional funding secured from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners, as well as unnamed partners. However, only 21st Century Fox's invested amount has been disclosed.

Some of the firm's funds have been allocated to creating Caffeine Studios, a new joint venture between Caffeine and Fox Sports. The business will use the latter's expertise in sports programming and live events coverage to create original esports, gaming, sports and entertainment programming for the Caffeine platform.

21st Century Fox's stakes in both Caffeine and Caffeine Studios will be part of the proposed new Fox company, which will be formed once the Disney's takeover of certain 21st Century Fox assets and businesses has been completed.

Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman for 21st Century Fox, will join the Caffeine board.

Caffeine announced its plans for a Twitch-like broadcasting platform earlier this year, and is currently in a 'pre-release' phase. Interestingly, the project aims to differentiate itself from Twitch, Youtube and the like with an ad-free monetisation model that relies on and the sale of digital items to viewers that enable them to interact with the broadcast.