Atmosphere, which provides a streaming video platform for restaurants, gyms and other public businesses, announced Tuesday that it has raised $80 million in Series C financing, along with $20 million in debt financing.
With the new funding, the Austin-based company’s fundraising totals more than $140 million. Atmosphere closed out a $14 million Series A in 2020, followed by a $25 million Series B last year.
The Series C round was led by Sageview Capital with participation from existing investors Valor Equity Partners and S3 Ventures. The debt financing was provided by Bridge Bank.
Atmosphere’s videos are shown at more than 18,000 restaurants, bars, gyms, doctor offices and other businesses, including Meineke Car Care, Burger King and Texas Roadhouse.
Atmosphere’s streaming platform features 64 channels with short-form video content including viral video compilations, extreme sports and ambient nature scenes. Some of the videos feature audio, while others do not.
Atmosphere was founded by brothers Leo and John Resig, who created viral humor website theChive in 2008. They branched out into television content with CHIVE TV, which would become the flagship channel on the Atmosphere streaming platform. Atmosphere spun out of Chive Media Group in 2019.
In addition to Chive TV, Atmosphere’s other owned-and-operated channels include Happy TV and Atmosphere News. Atmosphere also airs content from partners such as Red Bull, X Games and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
In addition to its funding news, Atmosphere also announced a new partnership with TikTok this week. Atmosphere’s team of content editors will sort through tens of thousands of TikTok videos to create a channel designed for public viewing.
Atmosphere provides its hardware and video programming to restaurants, gyms and other public-facing businesses for a $99 activation fee. The content is funded by advertising. Businesses that show Atmosphere’s content can also pay to broadcast in-house advertisements and promotions between videos.
Atmosphere said it has more than doubled its customer footprint over the past year, reaching more than 20 million unique viewers each month.
The Series C funding will be used to gain additional distribution scale, while continuing to enhance and build the company’s operations across content, marketing and ad sales.
The company plans to grow its team of 260 by roughly 350 this year. Most of those jobs will be based in Austin, according to the company.
Leo Resig, co-founder and CEO of Atmosphere, said in a statement that Atmosphere is the first company to create video content specifically for an audio-free viewing experience in businesses.
“Our partners at Sageview, Valor and S3 share our passion and vision to take the entire third space by storm,” he said. “Wherever there is a TV screen, customers, and dwell time, Atmosphere should be streaming in that business. Atmosphere is the perfect solution for businesses who want to elevate their space and advertisers who are looking to get in front of an increasingly unreachable TV audience.”
Resig’s brother and co-founder John Resig said in a statement that he believes this “third space” is “the last great frontier of tech.”
