Riverside.fm, a leading podcast recording platform, announced a $30 million Series C funding round led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from Seven Seven Six and angel investor Sam Lessin. This latest investment will fuel team expansion and the development of innovative solutions for podcasters and content creators.
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Founded in 2020, Riverside has raised a total of $80 million to date, with consistent support from Zeev Ventures and Seven Seven Six across multiple funding rounds. The company boasts a notable roster of angel investors, including Casey Neistat, Marques Brownlee, Guy Raz, Elad Gil, and Alexander Klöpping. This Series C follows a $35 million Series B round secured in 2022, further solidifying Riverside’s upward trajectory and increasing its valuation, though the exact figure remains undisclosed.
Addressing Creator Pain Points with an All-in-One Platform
Alexis Ohanian, founder and general partner of Seven Seven Six, emphasized the need for comprehensive podcasting solutions, highlighting Riverside’s intuitive design and ability to address creator pain points effectively. Ohanian noted that many AI tools offer fragmented solutions, forcing creators to assemble a complete workflow from disparate offerings. Riverside, however, provides an all-in-one platform that simplifies the entire process.
“A lot of AI tools are point solutions requiring creators to piecemeal offerings and hack their way to a comprehensive podcasting platform. Riverside is truly all-in-one and ridiculously easy to use,” Ohanian stated.
From Remote Recording to AI-Powered Editing: Riverside’s Evolution
Initially launched as a remote podcast recording platform during the pandemic, Riverside addressed the challenges of geographically dispersed participants. Core features included separate audio track recording with automatic backups, ensuring recording integrity even with connectivity issues.
Recent enhancements include iOS and iPad apps for high-definition mobile recording, along with a redesigned platform consolidating recording, editing, and sharing functionalities. The new editor boasts AI transcription in over 100 languages, separate audio and video tracks, automatic clip creation for social media sharing, and an AI-powered editing feature enabling text replacement or removal within transcripts, automatically reflecting changes in the audio and video recordings. These advancements have reportedly reduced editing time by 80% for creators and companies like Google, Microsoft, and Marvel. In 2024 alone, Riverside users recorded over 100 million minutes of content.
Expanding Beyond Podcasting: A Vision for Comprehensive Video Creation
Beyond podcasting, Riverside has expanded into live-streaming, offering multi-destination streaming and custom branding options. This broadened scope reflects the company’s ambition to become a comprehensive video creation platform. Earlier this year, Spotify strengthened its partnership with Riverside, integrating its recording and editing tools directly into the Spotify for Podcasters platform. This collaboration further solidifies Riverside’s position in the podcasting ecosystem. Riverside competes with platforms like Podcastle and Zencastr in the remote recording space, while Camo, initially a webcam enhancement tool, has also ventured into live-streaming solutions.
Focusing on Future Growth and AI-Driven Innovation
Riverside CEO Nadav Keyson affirmed the company’s goal of becoming a one-stop shop for video creation, serving diverse needs beyond podcasting, including video interviews, thought leadership content, and internal training materials. This vision aligns with the growing demand for video content, a trend Ohanian believes Riverside is well-positioned to capitalize on.
“The product addresses every step of the creative process with a suite of tools to create audio and video content, including studio-quality recording, full HD live-streaming, AI-powered editing solutions, and automatic content repurposing,” Ohanian commented.
Keyson highlighted the ongoing commitment to simplifying video editing through intuitive tools and AI-powered features. With a current team of approximately 160-170 employees, Riverside plans to allocate the new funding primarily towards hiring AI and full-stack engineers. While not yet profitable, the company aims to achieve profitability by the end of 2026.
