Fox-Backed Streaming Platform Caffeine Abruptly Shuts Down

Another streaming platform bites the dust.

Caffeine, a social streaming sports platform that had raised nearly $300 million from companies like Fox, Disney, Cox, Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock, abruptly shuttered on Wednesday.

"We're at the point where we are still not quite profitable, so we've made the decision to end the service as of June 26th as we figure out our next steps," the company posted to its website. "We've had a huge impact on the industry and will again soon, in a different way. Many, many thanks to all involved. We'll remember this for life."

Caffeine launched in 2016 as an alternative to Twitch (the live streaming platform now owned by Amazon), with a focus on esports, video games, and live events. 21st Century Fox invested $100 million in the company in 2018, coinciding with a streaming concert deal with Live Nation, and the promise to build a new venture called Caffeine Studios that would see Fox help develop content for the platform.

Fox invested more in the company in 2020, where it was joined by the cable company Cox. Disney is also an investor from Caffeine's participating in the 2018 Disney Accelerator Program.

Caffeine had pivoted in recent years to focus on niche sports leagues, live event organizers and sports creators. As part of that pivot, Caffeine announced a wide-ranging streaming deal with LIV Golf back in February. Now the LIV streams will be no more, halfway through that league's season (though they are available on other platforms like The CW and YouTube).

At the time, Caffeine said that it had more than 60 million monthly active users, and more than 150 "niche sports leagues, competitive event organizers, content creators, and sports media publishers" partnering with it to stream content.

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