It’s a weird move for a online content startup to launch a print magazine. Can you imagine Buzzfeed or the Huffington Post doing that? But that’s what GiveMeSport did this week, showcasing it’s new high-end quarterly title at a celeb-packed launch in London. Outside of the usual bluster, what co-founder and CEO Nick Thain appears to be doing is creating a sports destination for the online generation. GiveMeSport looks like it is developing a Huffington Post, or Vice News for Sport, and as far as I can tell, no-one else has realised this market exists.
In January the company – which is not dissimilar to the Bleacher Report – raised a Series B fundraising (amount undisclosed) following a further round of funding from strategic partner IMG Media (the global sports, fashion and media company). It now plans to expand into the US. Funding now totals $4.6m and Thain tells me they have had 164% growth in the last 3 months.