Best Media & Entertainment Companies in Minneapolis, United States
The 84 best Media & Entertainment companies in Minneapolis, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: SharpLink.
Ranked: Best Media & Entertainment companies in Minneapolis
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SharpLink Provider of iGaming affiliate marketing network and direct-to-player marketing websites 60Growth top 14%Funding top 25%News top 25%Tech top 46% All 8 signals ▾Growthtop 14% Fundingtop 25% Newstop 25% Techtop 46% Moattop 48% Marketbottom 46% Globalbottom 37% Fin. healthbottom 35% Growth: Web rank 50,000,000 → 5,000,000 YoY · 35 acquisition/expansion moves in 24 mo Funding: Raised $429M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 3 yrs (0.7/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 60/100 | $429M | 12 mo ago | Public | — | 2019 | StoryblokApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+12 | — |
| 2 | Flipgrid Video discussion forum | $17M | 128 mo ago | Acquired | — | 2012 | — | — |
| 3 | Lemonada Online podcast network | $10M | 52 mo ago | Acquired | Stephanie Wachs Co-Founder & CCO | 2019 | Cart FunctionalityWooCommerceWordPress+25 | 3 job openings |
| 4 | BringMeTheNews Curated news about Minnesota | $4M | 166 mo ago | Acquired | — | 2009 | — | — |
| 5 | Captionmax Media captioning solutions provider | $2M | 189 mo ago | Acquired | Truck Morrison CEO & President | 1993 | — | — |
| 6 | NextGem Online social platform for trade card enthusiasts | $2M | 52 mo ago | Seed | James Francesco Co-Founder | 2021 | — | — |
| 7 | Coffeehousepress Publisher of literary fiction, essays, and poetry | $300K | 17 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 1984 | Cart FunctionalityShopifyTabarnapp+23 | — |
| 8 | SwapBeats Social music creation marketplace | $300K | 160 mo ago | Deadpooled | David Atkinson Founder & CEO | 2008 | — | — |
| 9 | Ekwe.app Online platform offering music creation solutions 53Talent top 27%Tech top 31%Partners top 33%Market top 36% All 8 signals ▾Talenttop 27% Techtop 31% Partnerstop 33% Markettop 36% Newsbottom 45% Growthbottom 32% Fundingbottom 31% Globalbottom 25% Talent: 3 named leaders on record · 3 C-suite/founder profiles curated Tech: 41 technologies across 5/8 capability areas · Cloud: Akamai, Amazon Cloudfront rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 53/100 | $250K | 51 mo ago | Seed | Harold Eason Co-CEO | 2020 | DrupalApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+15 | 6 job openings |
| 10 | Slice Engine Content curation tool for mobile-based platforms | $200K | 129 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2014 | — | — |
Top 12 Media & Entertainment companies in Minneapolis
#1
Public · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2019 · 62 employees$429.4Mraised▾
Provider of iGaming affiliate marketing network and direct-to-player marketing websites. The company focuses on driving qualified traffic and player acquisitions, retention, and conversions to iGaming operator partners. It owns and operates affiliate marketing websites designed to attract sports betting and online casino gaming traffic to partners.
- May 2025Post IPO$425M
- Feb 2023Post IPO$4.4M
#2
Funding Raised · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 1984 · 73 employees$300Kraised▾
Publisher of literary fiction, essays, and poetry. It focuses on experimental and genre-bending works. The publisher supports emerging and established authors through its publishing program, which includes internships and artist residencies. It also offers subscriptions and sells books directly to consumers. The organization actively engages with educators and booksellers. It manages rights and permissions for its publications.
- Jan 2025Grant (prize money)$70K
- Mar 2012Grant (prize money)$60K
- Feb 2011Grant (prize money)$60K
- Dec 2009Grant (prize money)$60K
#3
Acquired · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2019 · 70 employees$10.4Mraised▾
Lemonada is a podcast network. It has podcasts that discuss human experiences. The platform also provides a forum for users to discuss the podcasts published. It also has a platform for selling merchandise for the podcast network.
- Jan 2022Series A$8M
- Feb 2021Seed$1M
- Jun 2020Seed$1.4M
- Apr 2020Conventional Debt$180K
#4
Acquired · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2012 · 24 employees$17.4Mraised▾
Flipgrid, a product of Vidku, provides a platform for classroom discussions and company interactions. Video responses can be made uploaded in response to a question posted on the forum. The answers are posted in a grid. Works on a premium model. Available on iOS and Android. Over 4.5 million videos have been created on the platform as of Dec 2015. Recipient of Webby Award, Davey Award and W3 Award.
- Oct 2015Series A$17.4M
- Feb 2015Seed$17M
#5
Seed · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2021 · 6 employees$1.8Mraised▾
Online social platform for trade card enthusiasts. The platform allows users to digitize their cards, find rare cards, interact with other enthusiasts, and more.
- Feb 2022Seed$1.8M
#6
Acquired · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2009 · 27 employees$4Mraised▾
BringMeTheNews filters through hundreds of news sources and social platforms to look for best stories that affect Minnesotans. Mentions where a story at BringMeTheNews comes from, also whether the content is reported or sponsored and if it’s sponsored, by whom. Its mobile app is available for Android devices.
- Jul 2012Series A$3M
- Aug 2010Seed$1M
#7
Acquired · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 1993 · 200 employees$2Mraised▾
Media captioning solutions provider. It offers solutions for governmental agencies, educational institutions, media and entertainment companies, and corporations. Provides captions, subtitles, translation, video description, and as-broadcast scripts to broadcast and cable TV networks, studios, and distributors.
- Sep 2010Grant (prize money)$2M
#8
Seed · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2021$250Kraised▾
Online platform offering music creation solutions
- Mar 2022Seed$250K
#9
Deadpooled · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2008$300Kraised▾
SwapBeats is a web-based, SaaS platform for music collaboration, creation, and commercialization. It provides end-to-end solutions for music creators to communicate with other artists, learn from them, create music together, and earn. It also provides a portal for fans to discover new artists and share real-time commentary on songs being developed.
- Feb 2013Seed$300K
#10
Deadpooled · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2014 · 6 employees$200Kraised▾
Slice Engine is a mobile curation platform that creates hyper-local, brand-sponsored social networks that allow businesses to tailor a conversation. It provides a software development kit that collects, curates and publishes user-generated content. Helps businesses collect media content (pictures, audio, streaming video etc) directly from the source via the brand's native mobile app.
- Sep 2015Seed$200K
#11
Deadpooled · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2009$20Kraised▾
FanChatter is a fan engagement platform through real-time sports content sharing. It helps sports franchises and other businesses to create profitable levels of fan involvement. Their advertisers or sponsor are NBC Universal, Clear Channel, Gannett and little guys (bloggers all over the world) who pay them for marketing through fan engagement.
- Jun 2009Seed$20K
#12
Series A · Minneapolis, Minnesota · founded 2013—raised▾
Provider of news and advertising products to local communities. It offers a suite of print and digital media solutions, including newspapers and magazines. The company focuses on delivering content relevant to its served communities. It aims to create a positive impact on the lives of its readers, advertisers, and associates. The business model centers on providing high-quality products and services to a hyper-local audience.
- Jul 2018Series A—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Media & Entertainment coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.