CRV led a USD13.6m Series A for Arena, a US-based community building platform for e-commerce brands, with participation from Craft Ventures, Artisanal Ventures and Vela Partners. Arena was founded by Brazilian early Hulu employee Paulo Martins. Arena raised a USD2.3m round led by Redpoint eventures in July 2020.

(TechCrunch) – Arena founder Paulo Martins grew up in Brazil playing video games, an industry that thrives on building communities among the players. Later, he came to the U.S., where he was an early employee at Hulu, helping the streaming TV service grow to over 7 million subscribers and $1 billion in revenue.

When it came time to build his own startup, Martins wanted to help companies build a similarly committed group of users to become their core audience. Arena provides the tools to embed online discussions into your website, where people can communicate with one another, help solve problems together and create a sense of camaraderie around the brand.

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