Mercurius Media Capital (MMC), the first U.S.-based media-for-equity venture fund, today announced that First Media, an award-winning digital media company, has joined the fund as a Limited Partner. The addition reflects MMC’s continued expansion of its media-for-equity offering, deepening its ability to support its portfolio companies with growth capital.
Through the partnership, MMC’s portfolio companies gain access to First Media’s owned consumer audiences across digital and social platforms, as well as television and out-of-home channels. Portfolio companies can also leverage First Media’s content-to-commerce capabilities, including shoppable content, performance marketing, and affiliate programs, enabling a direct path from product discovery to purchase.
First Media reaches more than 250 million engaged followers globally through its owned brands, including So Yummy, Blossom, Blusher, and BabyFirst, delivering over a billion monthly video views across platforms.
By adding a digitally native media partner, MMC broadens the range of audience engagement and distribution models available to its portfolio companies, strengthening its ability to support consumer growth across multiple channels.
From Media Capital to Audience Access
MMC was founded on the premise that startups shouldn’t have to choose between growth and cash preservation. Through its media-for-equity model, MMC enables companies to scale brand awareness and customer acquisition while conserving capital.
With First Media joining as a Limited Partner, MMC’s portfolio companies gain access to audiences built over nearly two decades of consistent, high-performing content. For early-stage and growth-stage companies, building trusted distribution at scale is often slow, expensive, and uncertain. This partnership allows MMC portfolio companies to tap into First Media’s ecosystem from day one.
First Media has partnered with some of the world’s leading consumer brands, including HelloFresh, Kraft Heinz, Walmart, Mattel, and Unilever, delivering award-winning, performance-driven campaigns that turn attention into measurable action.
“One of the biggest challenges companies face is earning sustained attention and trust at scale,” said Piyush Puri, Founding Partner of MMC. “First Media has built something rare: an audience that pays attention. By bringing First Media into the MMC family, we’re giving portfolio companies access to distribution that would otherwise take years to build.”
A Strategic Partner with Multi-Platform Reach
First Media is a multi-platform digital media company with brands spanning lifestyle, food, parenting, and home. Its content reaches consumers across social media platforms, streaming services, linear television, and out-of-home networks. The company combines publishing, in-house production, media buying, and real-time performance reporting to deliver full-funnel, performance-driven media solutions for brand partners.
With nearly $1 billion in managed media and in-house creative, production, and media buying under one roof, First Media offers MMC portfolio companies both scale and accountability across the full funnel.
“We are thrilled to join MMC as an LP, as this partnership lets us extend our reach and our impact to innovators and companies who are creating products that matter to consumers,” said Guy Oranim, CEO of First Media. “We’re bringing more than just scale to MMC’s portfolio companies, we’re providing the relevance and trust necessary to convert attention into action.”
