Plex Funding, Investors & Competitors

Plex has raised $105M across 4 funding rounds, most recently a $40M Series C in January 2024.

See full Plex profile

Last Plex funding round

$40M

Series C · Jan 2024

Cumulative funding Plex raised

$105M

across 4 funding rounds

Key investors in Plex

  • Intercap
  • Kleiner Perkins

Plex Overview

About Plex

Plex is a San Francisco-headquartered streaming media server and service delivering free ad-supported movies, TV shows, and live channels from Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and AMC. Users organize personal libraries alongside on-demand content from Crackle and BBC across iOS, Android, Roku, and smart TVs. Plex supports 4K playback and podcast streaming globally.


Founded

2009

HQ

United StatesSan Jose, CA

Website

plex.tv

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2C

Revenue model

Advertising

Plex Funding History

Plex has raised a total of $105M across 4 funding rounds, plus 1 secondary share sale.

Plex's first fundraising round was a $10M Series B in March 2014. The most recent completed round was a $40M Series C in January 2024.

Plex funding rounds

Plex funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Jan 2024Series CIntercap (lead); Kleiner Perkins (lead)$40MPlex is a streaming media company that originated as a media organization tool and has evolved into a comprehensive platform offering ad-supported streaming, media organization for personal collections including home videos, photos, music, TV shows, and movies, DVR for over-the-air content, Live TV, and a new transactional video-on-demand marketplace with studios like AMC, A24, and Lionsgate. It supports streaming across devices such as Macs, PCs, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, Smart TVs, Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and NVIDIA SHIELD. The company raised $40 million in a Series C-3 inside round on January 29, 2024, led by existing investors Intercap and Kleiner Perkins, with funds aimed at pushing toward profitability expected by end of 2024 or early 2025, expanding TV concierge services, and enhancing content discovery across platforms. Plex's ad revenue grew nearly 45% in 2023, contributing significantly to overall business growth of 30% that year, amid a market downturn that led to layoffs, while engagement and usage also increased. The company has not raised outside funds since 2014, relying on supportive existing investors, and this round follows a $50 million growth round in April 2021 and a $35 million secondary market round earlier that year. CEO Keith Valory highlighted strong investor support and positioned Plex as a leader in the ad-supported streaming market, tracking user behavior across platforms for future initiatives. In the competitive streaming landscape, Plex differentiates with its hybrid model combining free ad-supported content, personal media management, and integrations for discovering content from other services. The funding supports evolution amid economic pressures, user privacy concerns in data monetization, and industry challenges, with robust backing from Intercap and Kleiner Perkins suggesting potential for future growth toward profitability.
Feb 2022Series C-$20MPlex is a streaming media software company providing a platform for organizing, playing, and streaming personal media libraries, with expansions into ad-supported streaming, rentals, purchases, and subscription content. Revenue per employee was listed at $135,000, positioning Plex in the entertainment providers sector out of Los Angeles. This followed a $35 million secondary market round in April 2021 led by Intercap for employee and early investor liquidity, and preceded a $40 million Series C extension in January 2024 led by Intercap and Kleiner Perkins to drive profitability and services like a TVOD marketplace. Plex's funding history includes earlier rounds like a $10 million Series B in March 2014 led by Kleiner Perkins for platform expansion.
Apr 2021Series CIntercap (lead)$35MPlex is a streaming media platform that evolved from a media organization startup into a comprehensive service offering ad-supported streaming, live TV channels, and a planned marketplace for rentals, purchases, and subscription content. In April 2021, Plex announced a $50 million growth equity round from existing investor Intercap, with $15 million representing new growth capital and the remaining $35 million used for secondary purchases of shares and options from early investors and employees. The round was technically designated as Plex's Series C, though the company declined to disclose its valuation, citing relatively low dilution for existing shareholders including Kleiner Perkins and Nexstar, with some early investors reportedly achieving 10x returns or greater. At the time of the round, Plex had been profitable on its own and was planning to expand its 100-person team with investments in marketing, monetization, and development. The company was preparing to launch new revenue streams including a video rental marketplace and subscription aggregator to fuel growth in both its ad-supported and emerging transactional businesses.
Apr 2021SecondaryIntercap (lead)$35MPlex is a streaming media platform offering free movies, TV shows, live TV, and personal media organization across devices, with over 25 million registered users globally in 193 countries as of April 2021. On April 14, 2021, Plex raised $50 million in a growth equity round led by existing investor Intercap, including $15 million in new capital and the remainder for share repurchases providing liquidity to early investors and employees. Intercap CEO Jason Chapnik joined Plex's board as chairman, and president James Merkur also joined. This marked Plex's first external financing since 2014, bringing total funding over $60 million from investors including Intercap and Kleiner Perkins. Plex had operated profitably without needing frequent fundraising prior to this round.
Mar 2014Series BKleiner Perkins (lead)$10MPlex is a media company founded in 2009 that provides users free access to live content along with tools to manage media consumption. The company monetizes through its premium subscription PlexPass and advertising on its free streaming service. In March 2014, Plex raised a $10 million Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins, building on its $1 million Series A from January 2010. By the time of the Series B round, Plex had already achieved profitability following the introduction of PlexPass in August 2012. As of the available reporting, Plex had raised a total of $81 million across multiple funding rounds from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Intercap, and Klass Capital, though the company remained in private ownership with no publicly disclosed revenue or valuation figures.

Who has invested in Plex?

2 investors have backed Plex across its funding rounds, including Intercap and Kleiner Perkins.

Lead investors include Intercap and Kleiner Perkins.


Plex Investors

Investors in Plex by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check

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Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples

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Acquisitions by Plex

Plex has acquired 1 company to date.

Last acquisition by Plex was on January 31st 2017. Plex acquired Watchup for undisclosed valuation.


Latest Acquisitions by Plex

Watchup
Description
Watchup is a mobile app developer delivering personalized video newscasts from major publishers. Founded at Stanford in 2013, the San Francisco-based company aggregates content from partners including CNN, CBS News, and Vox Media into customizable feeds. Watchup earned Webby Awards and featured placements on Google Play, Apple, and Amazon app stores.
HQ CountryUnited States
HQ City
San Francisco, CA
Deal Date31 Jan 2017
Valuationundisclosed
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

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Plex Competitors

Plex competitors include listed companies like Comcast and Saregama India, and private ones like Epic Games, Labs, Kakao Entertainment and Icon Health Fitness.

Public and private companies comparable to Plex
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
ComcastUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$124B$46B$81B1.4x
Epic GamesUnited StatesRaleigh, NCPrivate$5.7B-$23B3.9x
LabsUnited StatesLos Angeles, CAPrivate--$10B-
Kakao EntertainmentSouth KoreaSeongnamPrivate$1.2B-$7B5.8x
Icon Health FitnessUnited StatesLogan, UTPrivate$1B-$7B7.0x
Saregama IndiaIndiaIndiaPublicly listed$100M$36M$979M8.6x

Plex Public Comps

Plex is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Spotify, Comcast, NetEase, Warner Bros. Discovery, Baidu and EchoStar.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Alphabet$403B$176B10.2x8.7x23.3x19.0x
Amazon$717B$161B3.9x3.5x17.5x13.8x
Netflix$45B$30B7.1x6.4x10.6x19.8x
Disney$94B$19B2.4x2.3x12.3x10.3x
Spotify$20B$2.4B5.0x4.5x40.5x29.9x
Comcast$124B$46B1.3x1.4x3.5x4.8x
NetEase$17B$5.8B3.1x3.0x8.9x7.7x
Warner Bros. Discovery$37B$21B2.7x2.8x4.8x12.0x

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Common questions about Plex

When was Plex founded?Plex was founded in 2009.
Where is Plex headquartered?Plex is headquartered in San Jose, CA, United States.
Is Plex publicly listed?No, Plex is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Plex raised?Plex has raised $105M across 4 funding rounds.
What was Plex's last funding round?Plex's last funding round was a $40M Series C in January 2024, led by Intercap and Kleiner Perkins.
Who are Plex's investors?Plex's investors include Intercap and Kleiner Perkins.
Which companies are comparable to Plex?Companies comparable to Plex include Comcast, Epic Games, Labs, Kakao Entertainment, Icon Health Fitness and Saregama India.
How many companies has Plex acquired?Plex has acquired 1 company, including Watchup.

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