The fast-growing Online Publishing Platform, Medium, spearheaded by the co-founder of Twitter, Ev Williams, has raised another $50 Million, in the short span of 6 months. This C Series funding round has been led by Spark Capital, the same firm which had shown early interest in Twitter.
This is the second time Medium has raised more than $50 Million in capital. The company had seen otself raising close to $57 Million in its Series B round. Andreessen Horowitz(part of Google Ventures) and Ev Williams have also invested more money into the platform. The incoming money will be used, as told by Ev William in his official announcement , ‘to bolster our resources now given the demand we’ve seen for the vision we are building toward‘.
Medium is striving aggressively to be the most simplistic tool for all publishers on the interweb. The company since their last funding round in October, have made noticeable changes in their outlook towards the goal, that the team wants to achieve via Medium. There have been vast changes in UI, the algorithm, categories and layout, that makes it more easy for readers to find content and also start publishing in just a matter of seconds.
To boost growth of publishing houses on Medium, the team has also launched the Medium for Publishers tool, which delivers more advanced tools and hands control back to the publishers. The publishers can now customize color, layout, and navigation of their webpage according to their own needs, giving them a way to express their own identities on the platform. Ev Williams also emphasizes the fact that many-a-popular publications have already started taking advantage of the platform, which include the Pacific Standard, The AWL, Electric Literature and about a 100 more.
The company has also made some bleak changes to it’s team of Board Members, adding Ben Horowitz, the serial-entrepreneur and co-founder of the VC firm, Andreessen Horowitz. He’ll be sharing his expertise and guiding the team at Medium with his amassed wisdom of the enterprise world. Another huge addition to the team is Judy Estrin, who is the CEO of JLabs. She’ll be looking into the technology side of the product and advising the team on the same. At the same time, David Sze will be stepping down from his duties on the board while his partner at the GreyLock, Josh Elman, will still be a part of it.
Medium has been displaying a steady-user growth since it’s inception in 2012, and has become the one-stop solution for all philosophical Technology and Life advice on the Internet. With the introduction of the Publishers Tool, the Migration scheme, and the BETA revenue models, Medium will surely see a surge in Publications and users simultaneously. Medium will also be expanding its services to Facebook’s Instant Articles and Google AMP in the coming days.
