Dreams App Raises $5 Million

NEW YORK – Dreams, a TV app designed for your phone, launched publicly last month with ten mobile TV channels offering live news and entertainment. The app’s made-for-mobile TV channels were built in collaboration with media partners including Discovery and Bloomberg Media Distribution, and include content licensed from BBC Studios. Dreams also announced it has raised a $5 million Series A financing led by Ronny Conway’s A Capital Ventures, with participation by NEA, SV Angel, Box Group, Scott Belsky, and NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant.

Dreams is available for free in the U.S. on the App Store and Google Play. The app requires no login or registration and only shows videos in portrait mode.

“We started Dreams to redesign TV for your phone,” said co-founder Tom Bender. “We wanted a home screen icon for fun, free TV.”

“As the global leader in real life entertainment, Discovery is excited to extend the reach of its high-quality and trusted brands through Dreams,” said Bruce Campbell, Chief Development, Distribution and Legal Officer at Discovery. “The four made-for-mobile channels we are launching on Dreams give us a unique opportunity to showcase our deeply loved current content and future shows to mobile viewers in a bespoke format curated specifically to them.”

Dreams wave of new mobile TV channels include (in alphabetical order):

1. Animal Planet: The premier network for all things animals. Featured shows include River Monsters, Too Cute!, and Puppy Bowl.

2. Bloomberg: The leading global business and financial news channel providing data, news and analysis to decision makers around the world.

3. Discovery Channel: Compelling non-fiction that informs and entertains. Featured shows include Survivorman, Storm Chasers, and Dual Survival.

4. Food Network: Connecting viewers to the power and joy of food. Including iconic, fan-favorite shows such as Good Eats, Iron Chef America, and Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

5. Geo: A visually stunning mobile nature channel featuring premium, long-form nature and animal documentaries licensed from BBC Studios.

6. HGTV: America’s favorite way to get entertaining, relatable and inspirational home and lifestyle content. Featured shows include My First Place, Extreme Homes, and Tiny House Hunters.

7. Newsflash: A new mobile news channel featuring live feeds of major world events.

8. Slow: Minimalist, ultra-longform “slow TV” featuring soothing shots of landscapes, streams, and rainfall.

9. VHS: Full episodes of fun shows from the 80s and 90s, including Bob Ross (The Joy of Painting), Inspector Gadget, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

10. Wedding Week: A pop-up channel culminating with a live stream of the Royal Wedding on May 19, featuring a long-form documentary on Harry & Meghan and the outrageous reality TV throwback Wedding Wars.

Dreams developed patent-pending computer vision technology to create a modern, mobile-first TV news experience. The company’s software converts live TV news into a vertical video format in real-time, enabling the first-ever live, 24/7 vertical video news channels.