Viral Video Producer Cut Lands Funding Round From New Otter Media Venture

You may not have heard of Cut, but if you spend a lot of time on Internet, you’ve probably seen some of the videos it has produced, and it has now leveraged its viral appeal to land a big influx of capital. The studio, known for creating popular series like Baked and 100 Years Of Beauty, has announced a funding round led by digital studio Gunpowder & Sky.

Much of Cut’s digital presence is centered around its YouTube channel, where it has 963,000 subscribers and more than 247 million views. Cut is in the viral video business, and its library evidences that fact: 40 of its videos have scored more than one million YouTube views. Its two most popular creations are Baked, which spotlights people who are smoking weed for the first time, and 100 Years of Beauty, which follows makeup and hairstyle trends across the past ten decades.

Through its new investment round, Cut is looking to expand its operations, create more videos, and distribute them across new platforms. Gunpowder & Sky, which launched in January 2016 out of a partnership between Otter Media, Van Toffler, and Floris Bauer, will support Cut as it cranks out more viral hits.

“We are really excited to work with Gunpowder & Sky,” said Mike Gaston, CEO of Cut, in a press release. “It’s rare to walk into an investment meeting and spend the entire time talking about storytelling. Van and Floris have an incredible depth of experience and a prescient sense for what’s coming next.They’re putting together an awesome team of makers and we look forward to earning our spot on their roster.”

Comcast NBCUniversal’s Comcast Ventures also participated in the funding round. The size of the investment was not disclosed.