Fatherly

Fatherly is a digital lifestyle brand that provides news, expert advice, product recommendations and other resources for parents.[3][4] The company was founded in 2015 and is based in New York City.[5]

Fatherly
Type of site
Online media
Available inEnglish
FoundedApril 2015
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
United States
Area servedWorldwide
OwnerPrivately held
Founder(s)Michael Rothman[1]
Simon Isaacs[2]
URLfatherly.com
AdvertisingYes
RegistrationNo
Current statusActive

Overview

Fatherly offers articles, videos, and other digital content tailored to young fathers. The company has been described by the New York Times as “Buzzfeed meets Vice for parents".[2]

While the site's content is geared toward men, half of Fatherly's audience are women.[6] Many well-known parenting experts, authors, activists and celebrities have made contributions to Fatherly, including Melinda Gates, Michael Strahan, Jeff Kinney, and William Sears.[7][8]

Fatherly covers a variety of topics across health, science, play, relationships, personal finance, gear and parenting. It also has several content franchises including 940 Weekends, which focuses on activities, My Father, The…, which provides first-person narratives from sons and daughters of famous parents, and The Fatherly Podcast, a streaming, conversation-based show.[6][9][10]

History

In October 2014, while Fatherly.com was still in beta, the company created a grant called The Fatherly Fund to help parents fund, and complete, projects for their children that they would not otherwise be able to afford.[11]

Founded by Simon Isaacs and Michael Rothman, Fatherly officially launched in April 2015. The founders have cited the lack of male-focused parenting content as inspiration for the company.[12] Rothman further explained that he and Isaacs began Fatherly in part, because, "there are more diverse notions of family generally [and] there should be a platform for insights, advice and product recommendations that provides a bigger tent for more of today's parents."[13]

Fatherly was named one of Oprah's "favorite things" of 2016 and was noted by Adweek, Digiday and CNBC for its success with video targeting on Facebook.[14][15][16] In June 2016, nearly 3 million unique visitors went to the site.[17] By 2017, Fatherly reached 75 million people on Facebook each week.[6]

In early 2017, Fatherly received a Webby Award for “Best Parenting Site on the Internet.”[18] Later that same year, Fatherly hired Andrew Burmon as editor-in-chief of the site.[19] Fatherly also hired Michael Wertheim as the company's Chief Operating Officer.[17]

Funding

Fatherly raised an initial round of funding in 2015 for $2 million, which was led by SoftTech VC.[20] Other investors in the round included Crosslink Capital, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, The Knight Foundation, Gary Vaynerchuk and several angel investors.[21]

In 2017 Fatherly raised its Series A funding round totaling $4 million, which was led by BDMI with participation from SoftTech VC, Crosslink Capital, WPP PLC, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and the talent agency UTA.[9][22][23]

References
  1. Jason Feifer (19 June 2018). "When Nobody Believed in His Vision, the Co-Founder of Fatherly Shares How He Proved Them Wrong". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  2. Hannah Seligson (1 May 2017). "Making Room (on the Web) for Daddy". New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  3. Kristen Bellistrom (8 April 2017). "How Fatherly plans to corner the market on millennial dads". Fortune. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  4. Margot Machol Bisnow (10 July 2017). "Do Your Kids Really Need College?". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  5. Karsten Strauss (13 May 2015). "Great Places For New Dads To Work In 2017". Forbes. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. Laura Hazard Owen (11 May 2017). "Fatherly wants to build "the leading digital site for parents" — and is counting on mothers to get it there". Nieman Foundation at Harvard. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  7. "Want To Learn How To Raise Philanthropic Kids? Ask Melinda Gates". Fatherly. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  8. "The Fatherly Questionnaire: Michael Strahan". Fatherly. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  9. Erin Griffith (7 August 2017). "Millennial Dad Site Fatherly Raises $4 Million to Expand Into Video and Events". Fortune. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  10. "iHM Unveils New Slate of Original iHR Podcasts". Radio Online. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  11. "The Fatherly Fund Will Pay Dads to DIY". Popular Mechanics. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  12. "Fatherly's Mike Rothman on fighting the 'doofus dad' stereotype". Digiday. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  13. "How to Pursue Love and Purpose While Still Being Kind". Thrive Global. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  14. Max Willens (16 August 2017). "Inside Fatherly's very grown-up viral video strategy". Digiday. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  15. Michelle Castillo (25 August 2016). "Advertisers take note of dads' larger role in back-to-school shopping". CNBC. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  16. "Fatherly Raises $4 Million". News Center. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  17. Richard Hogan (1 June 2017). "Fatherly Installs Michael Wertheim as Company's First COO". Adweek. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  18. "Art 2017". Webby Awards. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  19. Richard Hogan (15 March 2017). "Andrew Burmon Joins the Fatherly Family". Adweek. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  20. Mike Shields (18 June 2017). "How Fatherly turned a tiny website into a budding business that reaches 300 million people". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  21. Madeline Stone (8 April 2015). "One of Thrillist's first employees got $2 million to launch a new parenting site for guys". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  22. Rebecca Sun (13 September 2017). "Rep Sheet Roundup: 'Scandal' Star Bellamy Young Signs With Anonymous Content". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  23. Cockar, Maryam (27 October 2017). "WPP Takes Stake in Fatherly". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
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