Substack raising $65 million in venture capital amid newsletter boom
30 March 2021
Substack is raising $65 million in new venture capital funding that would value the company at around $650 million, Axios has learned. Existing investor Andreessen Horowitz is leading the round.
Why it matters: Substack, which provides a platform on which writers can publish paid email newsletters and keep most of the revenue, has seen its popularity soar.
- Many of Substack's best-known writers are professional journalists who sought to become their own bosses, while others are simply seeking an outlet for their expertise.
Complications: Some of Substack's practices have become controversial, including who it chooses to pay directly and its relatively loose content moderation policies.
- It also could have tough competition from Big Tech companies like Twitter and Facebook, plus rival online publishers like Medium.
Andreessen Horowitz declined comment, while Substack hasn't yet responded to Axios' inquiries.
Go deeper: Newsletters are growing up
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.