MiTú, the “Latino YouTube”, has raised $10 million in funding

Disney’s recent acquisition of YouTube network Maker Studios shows how much firms value video these days — and MiTú just got some swell money for its own network. Latino media company and video network MiTú announced that it has raised $10 million in a second round of funding to continue building its engineering and sales efforts and expand its production facilities in Los Angeles and Mexico City. The company, established in 2012, is one of the largest media brands dedicated to Latino content for a young and global audience. Its programming covers beauty, food, DIY, home, and health, and it recently launched male pop culture coverage. MiTú also partners with outside content creators to launch their English, Spanish, and Portuguese-language video channels, expand their audiences, and connect with the global market.

Latino digital multichannel network MiTú raised $10 million in second-round funding, led by L.A.-based venture capital firm Upfront Ventures, one of the original investors in Maker Studios. MiTú said it will use the new funding, which brings it to about $13 million raised, to build out production facilities in Los Angeles and Mexico City, as well as expand its engineering and sales teams. Other investors, which also contributed to the round, include the Chernin Group; Allen DeBevoise, chairman of Machinima; and Advancit Capital, the VC firm founded by Shari Redstone and Jason Ostheimer. Upfront Ventures was an investor in Maker Studios, which Disney acquired earlier this spring in a deal worth up to $950 million. The Disney/Maker deal has spurred a wave of interest in YouTube MCNs by traditional media conglomerates. “Having been an early and prolific investor in online video, I came to the conclusion that the future will be built around strong vertical content channels,” Mark Suster, managing partner of Upfront Ventures, said in a statement. “When I met the team at MiTú I knew they understood the mixture of Latino meets online video better than anybody else I had met and became excited to be a partner with them.”