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Reelgood – Series A
Funded Series A  ·  $6M on $22.5M pre-money  ·  Invested 2020-02-03
Dossier generated 2026-07-14 by /deal-dossier  ·  Deal record: rec7h3qTViYtw7iLl  ·  Source: Airtable appjxAR3LPe3fkHOp

One-Liner & Thesis

Universal streaming guide that has quietly pivoted from a consumer discovery app into an enterprise metadata / streaming-availability API — a modern challenger to Gracenote in a category with a proven $560M exit precedent. The wedge is a proprietary ML matching engine, trained on 100M+ user signals from the consumer app, that produces canonical IDs across 300+ streaming services in 25+ countries with claimed 99%+ accuracy.

Validation signals as of 2025-2026 reporting: Reelgood's enterprise data product lists Google, Apple, Dish, Starz, Tubi, Warner Bros. Discovery, Perplexity, Pew Research, Stanford and Wharton among the customers of its Partner API and bulk data feeds; the underlying database covers 285K movies, 70K shows, 163K seasons, 3.8M episodes. Series A led by Runa Capital in Dec 2019, with existing seed lead August Capital following, bringing total raised through Series A to $11M. StoryHouse participated via T-Bird, Tuesday and Correlation on $6M / $22.5M pre-money terms (SH-recorded); the round was publicly reported at $6.75M.

Investment Score & Recommendation

67/ 100
INVEST

Retrospective judgement on a Series A entry into the streaming metadata category. Biggest driver: real enterprise traction with Google/Apple/WBD/Perplexity as named customers and a proven $560M Gracenote comp. Biggest drag: 5+ years post-Series-A the company is still headcount 11–50 with no announced exit path, and the consumer app has commoditized against JustWatch.

Momentum: Steady Red flags: 2 / 9 Confidence: Low
Market & TAM7/10
25% weight
Team & Founder6/10
25% weight
Product & Traction7/10
20% weight
Deal Terms & Return6/10
20% weight
VC Syndicate8/10
10% weight

Deal

Funding Round
Series A
Deal Terms
$6M on $22.5M pre-money
Co-Investors / Round Lead
Runa Capital (lead), August Capital
SH Fund
T-Bird · Tuesday · Correlation
Date of SH Investment
2020-02-03
Public Round Size
$6.75M announced 2019-12-06

Company Snapshot

Sector
Media · Entertainment · Consumer Internet / B2B Data
Location
San Francisco / Bay Area, CA
Year Founded
2015
Website
reelgood.com · data.reelgood.com
Total Raised Through Series A
$11M
Status
Operating; enterprise data pivot

Market Size

$157B
Streaming Market 2025Web
Grand View, OTT scope
$417B
TAM 2030Web
by 2030
21.5%
CAGRWeb
2025–2030
Late-cycle
Timing
SVOD saturating; discovery layer critical

Reelgood does not directly capture streaming subscription dollars — it sits one layer beneath, monetizing the fragmentation itself. The addressable slice is the enterprise metadata / streaming-availability data market historically dominated by Gracenote (Nielsen), where Nielsen paid $560M for Gracenote in 2016 Web. As household streaming-service counts crossed 4–5 subscriptions per US home, every consumer-facing surface (smart TVs, phones, search, AI assistants) needs unified availability data — a durable secular tailwind.

Competition

PlayerPositioningFunding / StageEdge vs. them
ReelgoodUniversal streaming guide (consumer) + Partner API / bulk feeds (enterprise) covering 300+ services in 25+ countries, ML matching to canonical IDs.Series A / SH entry 2020-02-03
Gracenote (Nielsen)Legacy metadata & program-guide standard for MVPDs, smart TVs and infotainment.Sold to Nielsen for $560M (2017) WebModern API, streaming-native, real-time updates within 5 min — Gracenote is the incumbent Reelgood explicitly positions against.
JustWatchConsumer streaming search engine with global coverage; ad/affiliate business.Private / German-founded WebReelgood's enterprise data business is a defensible flank; JustWatch primarily wins on the free-consumer surface.
TMDB / IMDb (Amazon)Reference movie/TV catalogs; IMDb owned by Amazon.Amazon-owned WebReelgood adds real-time streaming availability & canonical cross-service IDs that catalog databases don't maintain.
TV Time / TraktConsumer episode-tracking apps.Private, indie WebDifferent product surface; not enterprise competitors.

Moat: Data quality & recency — a proprietary ML matching layer trained on 100M+ consumer-app signals, with real-time change capture, positioned as the modern alternative to a Gracenote monolith that enterprise buyers already know.

Traction

300+
Services CoveredWeb
25+ countries, 7 languages
285K / 70K
Movies / TV ShowsWeb
3.8M episodes
11–50
HeadcountWeb
as of mid-2024
99%+
Data AccuracyWeb
Company-stated

Exit Potential

Strategic M&A
Likely Path
Data-layer roll-up
7–10 yr
Time to Liquidity
from SH entry 2020
2–8x
Return ScenarioInternal
est. on $22.5M pre entry

Likely acquirers: Nielsen/Gracenote (defensive), Amazon (IMDb-adjacent), Roku, LG/Samsung (smart-TV data), or a data-broker consolidator such as TiVo/Xperi. AI incumbents (Google, Perplexity) are already customers; any of them buying the pipe rather than renting it is credible.

Comparable exits: Nielsen → Gracenote for $560M in 2016 is the direct comparable. Reelgood's own 2018 acquisition of Guidebox established it as a category consolidator on the buy side. On $22.5M pre entry, a $200–500M strategic sale would return ~5–15x gross to Series A, before subsequent-round dilution — realistic but not a fund-returner unless a Gracenote-scale outcome materialises.

Founders

David Sanderson
Founder & CEO, Reelgood
Founded Reelgood in 2015 and has led it for 10+ years, from consumer app to enterprise data layer. Product manager at Facebook 2012–2015, working on advertiser products and early ML productisation. Bachelor of Commerce, University of British Columbia. Solo founder of record on the SH cap-table; no co-founder in Airtable Contacts.

Open Questions & Risks

Next Steps

Deal Timeline

Sources

  1. TechCrunch — Reelgood raises $6.75M for its universal streaming guide — Series A size, lead, syndicate.
  2. Next TV — Reelgood Series A $6.75M — Confirms Runa Capital lead, August Capital follow-on.
  3. TechCrunch — Reelgood acquires Guidebox (2018) — Prior consolidation history in the metadata space.
  4. Reelgood for Business — product homepage — 300+ services, 25+ countries, 285K movies / 70K shows, 99%+ accuracy claim.
  5. Reelgood Partner API — Real-time streaming availability API details.
  6. Reelgood streaming data updates (Dec 2025) — Recent service additions incl. Howdy Aug 2025.
  7. Next TV — Reelgood on Android TV, Fire TV, LG — Consumer platform footprint.
  8. Tracxn — Reelgood company profile — 11–50 employee band (mid-2024).
  9. Crunchbase — Reelgood — Funding history reference.
  10. David Sanderson — LinkedIn — Founder background (ex-Facebook PM, UBC Commerce).
  11. Meb Faber Show ep. 213 with David Sanderson (Apr 2020) — Founder voice at time of Series A.
  12. Grand View Research — Video Streaming Market — $157B 2025 market size.
  13. Grand View Research press release — $416.8B by 2030 — 21.5% CAGR 2025–2030.
  14. Variety — Nielsen to buy Gracenote for $560M — Category exit comparable.
  15. TechHive — Reelgood vs JustWatch vs Plex — Competitor positioning.
  16. AlternativeTo — Reelgood alternatives — Broader competitor set.