Imgur secures $20M investment from former Ripple Labs CTO's startup Coil

Image hosting site Imgur announced that it has secured $20 million in venture equity from Coil, a micropayment tool for creators.

According to a press release, the proceeds will be used to continue the mission of Imgur to turn the internet into a more positive place. Under the partnership, Stefan Thomas, Coil’s founder and CEO and former Ripple Labs Inc.’s CTO, will sit in Imgur’s board of directors.

Aside from the funding, the partnership will also see Imgur integrating Coil into its platform, which has 300 million monthly users, to offer micropayments to users who view contents, Tech Crunch reported.

The collaboration will also see Imgur launching a premium membership with exclusive features and content for Coil subscribers. A $5 monthly Coil subscription pays creators per second that the subscriber spends consuming their content at a rate of 36 cents per hour. Both Imgur and Coil will earn a portion too, thus expanding the revenue of the meme’s network beyond advertisements.

“Everything from the way we operate as a team to the ways in which we partner with brands is built around this core value of giving to the community,” Alan Schaaf, Imgur’s founder and CEO, said. “Coil's technology will open up new opportunities for users to give to one another and support the community in new ways.”

Founded in 2018, Coil’s subscription service is currently available in beta, and it will provide extensions for Chrome and Firefox. Coil allows subscribers to browse content from as many creators, and they receive appropriate payments.

Meanwhile, social currency startup Roll has also raised $1.7 million seed round investment that will help content creators on Youtube and other media platforms gain more control in monetizing relationships with their fans, enabling them to create their own ethereum-based currency to allow them to carry their own brand.