The startup funding world of 2025 doesn’t look very similar to the one founders knew even a number of years in the past.
Enterprise capital, lengthy the default development engine for younger firms, has slowed dramatically. In line with KPMG, Q2 2025 noticed VC deal quantity hit its lowest degree in additional than a decade, with offers dropping from 9,314 in Q1 to only 7,356 in Q2.
Within the U.S., deal rely and capital invested fell 45.2% and 65.0% quarter-over-quarter, respectively, in accordance with Stout. As tariffs on international commerce add to the uncertainty, early-stage founders face one of the crucial difficult development environments in latest reminiscence. Elevating cash is tougher; development is slower.
However as an alternative of stalling out, some founders are taking a distinct route. They’re buying and selling fairness—not for money, however for airtime.
The Rise of Media-for-Fairness
At its core, media-for-equity is an funding mannequin the place media firms present promoting area or airtime to startups in change for fairness relatively than money. Crucially, this strategy permits startups to supercharge model consciousness, credibility, and buyer acquisition at an early stage, with out diluting funds or burning by means of restricted advertising budgets.
That is particularly helpful when manufacturers want to achieve a “crucial mass” of visibility to scale and obtain their strategic market share. For a lot of firms, particularly these in client or consumer-facing tech, the most important burn after a elevate is advertising. Early-stage VC-backed startups spend as much as 30%–50% of the raised capital on advertising and development operations: which means one-third to half of each greenback {that a} founder raises is straight away reinvested into attain. Media-for-equity offsets that by injecting visibility: you protect money, lengthen runway, and nonetheless unlock scale. It’s a technique to rethink how startups develop in a world the place model consideration is the brand new forex.
Globally, the media-for-equity mannequin has lengthy been in style. It has already performed a task in the enlargement of Uber, Airbnb, and mapping know-how supplier, what3words, into new areas. However within the U.S., the cost is being led by Mercurius Media Capital (MMC), which launched in December 2023 as the primary U.S.-based media-for-equity enterprise fund. It now companions with main platforms, together with Sinclair Broadcast Group, TelevisaUnivision, and Environment TV, to leverage high-impact media stock.
Why Accelerating Visibility is Essential
Final 12 months, MMC struck a $1.5 million media-for-equity settlement with Captain Experiences, a rising outside sports activities market that connects individuals with guides, outfitters, and charters. The partnership will bolster Captain Experiences’ model visibility and develop its attain in key U.S. markets at a vital second of alternative, because the outside recreation market hits a document excessive of 181.1 million members.
As with most development methods, timing is completely key to success. Ready six or twelve months till financing is out there for extra media and advertising is now not a possible technique. The window of alternative quickly passes if it isn’t seized. That is very true in right now’s startup area, the place new choices should obtain traction and set up their model standing completely earlier than the market’s consideration shifts to new traits and applied sciences. That’s the place the media turns into catalytic. In a crowded area, scaling consciousness shortly may imply the distinction between being simply one other area of interest platform and changing into the class chief.
Making media-for-equity work requires an lively companion who acknowledges the potential of your startup and sees how better visibility might be transformative. Within the case of Captain Experiences, Piyush Puri, founding companion of MMC, defined how he noticed its potential: “Outside sports activities are one of many final untapped frontiers for marketplaces, and Captain Experiences is proving there’s vital potential for enterprise innovation on this sector.”
Why Founders Ought to Care
For younger founders, media-for-equity can present strategic firepower. Right here’s why it is likely to be the neatest transfer for founders right now:
1. Enhance visibility
A strategic media presence shapes a compelling narrative, growing investor belief and creating social proof. Even in case you’re promoting to companies, model issues. Consciousness creates inbound and opens doorways to companions, distributors, and even expertise.
2. Construct credibility
The credibility carry of being on a mainstream platform, particularly for an rising model, usually has the identical signaling energy as a marquee VC in your cap desk. The payoff of prime-time airtime isn’t simply publicity, it’s belief and legitimacy within the public eye.
3. Entice different funding sources
Media-driven consideration can result in inbound curiosity from angel buyers, crowdfunding platforms, and non-traditional backers. Media, when used strategically, isn’t just advertising; it’s multiplicative capital.
4. Validate market demand
Content material engagement and viewers development function real-time indicators of traction, invaluable early proof of product-market match.
With enterprise capital contracting and macroeconomic pressures mounting, founders can’t afford to rely solely on previous routes to development. Media-for-equity provides each a cash-saving different and the chance to scale sooner than conventional enterprise capital usually permits.
For younger startups able to share their story with the world or enter a brand new market, the simplest development companion is likely to be a media firm.
