Media brand Rebel Girls has announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by American book publisher Penguin Random House.
Rebel Girls is a global empowerment brand that strives to inspire a confident generation of girls. The team at Rebel Girls believes in empowering girls and telling the stories of real-life women to create an equal world where women are treated fairly and given the same opportunities as everyone else.
Last year Rebel Girls raised $13 million to expand its brand and now this further $8 million will go towards reaching more girls. CEO of Rebel Girls, Jes Wolfe, noted that the team would be “greatly increasing our content creation – both in books and in other mediums.” The goal is to inspire 50 million girls by 2025.
Empowering girls
Rebel Girls is well on its way to achieving its goals, with 23 million girls already reached and 8.5 million books sold with over 1000 original stories told. In addition, Rebel Girls also has its own podcast, which has accumulated over 20 million downloads, with stories being read by singer and guitarist Joan Jett, who also contributed toward this latest Series A funding. The company now hopes to expand even further with potential for television, theatre and the metaverse.
Speaking with the Fast Company, CEO Jes Wolfe said “I think you’ll see us in the metaverse in the second half of this year. We’ll have something on Roblox and we’ll have something on Minecraft.”
Wolfe also spoke on the confidence gap for girls, with an internal customer survey highlighting that the company’s books had helped to combat mental health, with 92% of parents reporting that their girls had been inspired by the books and 86% feeling that their confidence had increased after reading.
With continued concern that women are still unrepresented, brands such as Rebel Girls can help to instil confidence in girls at a young age by empowering them with the stories of other women and trying to build a future where they are treated equally. Last year Women In Games launched a guide on promoting inclusivity in the gaming industry.
Paige Cook is a writer with a multi-media background. She has experience covering video games and technology and also has freelance experience in video editing, graphic design, and photography. Paige is a massive fan of the movie industry and loves a good TV show, if she is not watching something interesting then she's probably playing video games or buried in a good book. Her latest addiction is virtual photography and currently spends far too much time taking pretty pictures in games rather than actually finishing them.
