The pro-free speech YouTube competitor Rumble is receiving an investment from a number of conservative venture capitalists that includes Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance.
Thiel is best known for co-founding PayPal and Palantir, and funding the lawsuit that bankrupted the left-wing rag Gawker. Vance is known for his book “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was recently made into a movie. He’s also a likely candidate for Senate in Ohio in 2022.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
The investment is being led by Narya Capital, a Cincinnati-based venture-capital fund co-founded by Mr. Vance and Colin Greenspon, and by Mr. Thiel, who is also a Narya investor, in a personal capacity. Colt Ventures, the family office of Dallas investor and former Trump adviser Darren Blanton, is also part of the investment group. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that a group of conservative investors, including Mr. Blanton, were eyeing an investment in Rumble as some on the right seek to set up an alternative social-media ecosystem outside mainstream platforms that they see as excessively restricting speech.
The size of the transaction wasn’t disclosed. One person familiar with the matter described the investment as significant. Other people familiar with the matter say it values Rumble at around $500 million.
Rumble will use the money to strengthen its video infrastructure, live-streaming capabilities, and build out server capacity to eventually offer cloud solutions to other businesses.
Rumble is growing at an incredible rate as people flee big tech censorship. The platform had 1.6 million members at the third quarter of 2020 – and 31.9 million for the first quarter of 2021 – growth of 1,900%.
Matt Palumbo is the author of Dumb and Dumber: How Cuomo and de Blasio Ruined New York, Debunk This: Shattering Liberal Lies, and Spygate
Disclosure: Dan Bongino is an investor in Rumble
Don’t miss the Dan Bongino Show
