Description
Gimlet Media LLC is a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CEO and president respectively until Lieber stepped down in 2022. In February 2019, Spotify announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. In 2023, Spotify merged Gimlet into Spotify Studios.
History
Gimlet was founded in August 2014 with the launch of its flagship podcast StartUp hosted by Alex Blumberg. Originally billed as the American Podcasting Corporation (APC), Blumberg was eventually convinced to change the company's name. After working with Lexicon Branding, Blumberg and Lieber chose the name Gimlet Media.
The company raised $1.5 million in seed funding at a $10 million valuation.[4] After raising most of its initial capital from investment firms Betaworks, Lowercase Capital, and Knight Enterprise Fund, Gimlet invited the listeners of its shows to help raise the last $200,000 through equity crowdfunding. The company was estimated to bring in $2 million in advertising revenue in 2015. In December 2015, Gimlet closed a Series A round of funding that raised $6 million at a $30 million valuation.
In July 2015, Gimlet announced it would add the option to pay for membership, a decision motivated by a desire to diversify revenue streams to include more than advertising. Members were given early access to pilots for new Gimlet shows, a Gimlet T-shirt, and access to the company's Slack channel. Gimlet then hired Blumberg's spouse and former Rachel Maddow Show producer Nazanin Rafsanjani to explore other ways to diversify the company's revenue. Rafsanjani spearheads Gimlet Creative, a wing of the company that "creates highly produced narrative audio in partnership with brands."
On August 2, 2017, Gimlet announced it closed a $15 million Series B investment round, led by Stripes Group. Emerson Collective, Graham Holdings, Betaworks, and Cross Culture Investors also contributed to the round. In September 2017, British advertising firm WPP announced it was investing $5 million in Gimlet for a minority stake in the company.
On February 6, 2019, Spotify announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. In the summer of 2022, Lieber left his role as president but remained an advisor to Spotify. On June 5, 2023, Spotify sent a memo to staff announcing that Gimlet will be merged with Parcast into a single Spotify Studios division, as part of a restructuring that also included the elimination of 200 jobs.
