YouTube Network DanceOn Raises $4M To Become The Go-To Place For Dance Entertainment

YouTube network DanceOn is the latest new media company to raise money for its growing video business. The company, which is the Number 1 place for dance videos on YouTube, has secured $4 million in funding, in a round co-led by Plus Capital and AMC Networks.

DanceOn is one of a number of multichannel networks that have emerged over the past few years to aggregate channels of videos on YouTube while also producing their own owned and operated video content. Like Machinima for gamers and Tastemade for food, DanceOn focuses on a specific vertical — in this case, dance entertainment.

The company got its start a few years ago, and was lucky enough to be one of the 100 or so channels that YouTube funded as part of its $100 million initiative to invest in original content. Since then, the company has thrived through the creation of programming and as a network of partnering YouTube creators.

DanceOn CEO Amanda Taylor tells me that she originally had the inspiration to start the company because she wanted to build a community of people who loved dance. She founded it along with help from Madonna manager and A-Grade cofounder Guy Oseary, as well as Machinima CEO Allen Debevoise.

DanceOn goes beyond just finding YouTube channels and creators focused on dance and helping them to monetize the videos they’re making. The company is focused on a couple of premium content series, like flagship show Dance Showdown. That series takes the typical “So You Think You Can Dance” competition concept and invites YouTube stars from different verticals to participate. It’s also betting big on a new docuseries called “The Edge”, which follows the performers who make music tours and music videos work.

The company will be betting on more original content, but it will also be investing in more technology. DanceOn plans to build more tools to make it easier for its partners to upload content. It now has 16 full-time employees but will likely expand to 25 over the next several months.