Newsletter and publishing platform Substack announced $100 million in Series C funding, led by technology investment firm BOND and Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group (TCG).
Also participating in Substack’s funding were VC firm Andreessen Horowitz; Rich Paul, CEO and founder of Klutch Sports Group; and Jens Grede, CEO and co-founder of Skims, the apparel company co-founded by Kim Kardashian. The round values Substack at about $1.1 billion and brings its total funding to date to around $190 million.
Substack has gained traction as a way for independent creators and publishers to monetize their content, with a model similar to Patreon. To date, Substack writers and creators have amassed more than 5 million paid subscriptions in total, the company announced in March 2025, up from 2 million in 2023. “[W]e’re building an economic engine to power this entire cultural ecosystem. Our model is simple: creators make money by serving their communities, and Substack succeeds only when they do,” Substack co-founders Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi wrote in a blog post Thursday announcing the funding raise.
Top Substack newsletters include those from historian Heather Cox Richardson, author Marc Cenedella, Robert Reich (Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration), former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, MeidasTouch, The Bulwark and humorist Andy Borowitz.
With the funding, BOND partner Mood Rowghani will join Substack’s board. “We’re thrilled to partner with these investors, who bring a wealth of experience across tech, media, and culture, as we put this capital to work serving creators and their communities,” the Substack co-founders wrote.
“We’re living through a time of rapid technological change, one that’s reshaping how we communicate, create, and live. Every leap forward brings both promise and peril,” the co-founders wrote. “The tools we hoped would uplift and enrich us have too often degraded or dehumanized us instead. Now, as powerful new technologies emerge daily, they arrive freighted with both hope and anxiety. The challenges ahead are real.”
With the new funding, the company is “doubling down on the Substack app, which is designed to help audiences reclaim their attention and connect with the creators they care about,” according to the co-founders. “We aim to prove that a media app can be fun and rewarding without melting your brain. An escape from the doomscroll, and a place to take back your mind.”
San Francisco-based Substack was founded in 2017. Previous investors have included Chernin Group, Zhen Fund, Zynga co-founder Justin Waldron and Andreessen Horowitz.