Startup profile · funding coverage
Knowable funding, valuation and investors
Audio-first expert courses for commute learning—acquired by Medium in 2021.
Keep track of Knowable
Save this profile to your VCT watchlist for a quick return.
Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Seed
~$4M · October 2019
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
Not publicly disclosed
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
acquired
acquired · Los Angeles, California
Investors in latest funding
Lead: Andreessen Horowitz
Other: First Round Capital , Upfront Ventures , Initialized Capital
Latest tracked event: Acquired by Medium (November 2021). It is shown separately because it is not counted as disclosed equity funding.
Overview
Knowable, founded by Warren Shaeffer and Alex Benzer, launched in October 2019 as an audio learning platform with structured expert-led courses—not episodic podcasts. Courses like Launch a Startup featured Alexis Ohanian and sold for roughly $100 each or via subscription. The company raised about $4 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with Upfront Ventures, Initialized Capital, and First Round Capital per PR Newswire and TechCrunch. In November 2021, Medium acquired Knowable; Shaeffer became Medium's VP of Audio and the Knowable product continued as a standalone subscription while integrating into Medium's audio roadmap.
Why Knowable is interesting
Warren Shaeffer's 'not a podcast' $100 courses raised $4M from a16z and First Round; Medium bought the team to add audio to its writer platform rather than let the product die.
Product & use cases
Knowable produced long-form audio courses (often ~8 hours) from practitioners—structured chapters, summaries, and frameworks designed for screen-free learning during commutes.
- Founder and startup skill-building via audio
- Professional development without video screen time
- Expert-led wellness and productivity courses
Key facts
- Seed (Oct 2019): ~$4M led by a16z (PR Newswire/TechCrunch)
- Acquired Nov 2021 by Medium; Shaeffer became VP Audio (TechCrunch)
- 100+ courses at acquisition; contributors included Scott Kelly and Chris Paul
- Promotional pricing dropped to $25/year briefly post-acquisition (TechCrunch)
Funding history (newest first)
Acquired by Medium
2021-11 Not disclosedSource: https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/16/medium-acquires-knowable-to-bring-audio/
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Knowable's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Premium structured audio with named experts (Scott Kelly, Chris Paul, Mark Bittman)—positioned between podcasts and MasterClass video.
Audio learning competed with free podcasts and video MasterClass. Knowable's Medium exit preserved the team and library but reflected difficulty scaling standalone against platform incumbents without massive content spend.
-
MasterClass direct
Celebrity video courses; Knowable bet on audio-first consumption.
-
Audible / podcasts incumbent
Broader audio libraries without structured course UX.
-
Spotify education experiments adjacent
Platform giants adding learning content formats.
Notable stories
- Initialized's Alexis Ohanian both invested and taught Knowable's Launch a Startup course (TechCrunch).
- Shaeffer positioned Knowable as 'not a podcast'—structured curriculum vs episodic shows.
- Medium's Ev Williams cited audio as third acquisition of 2021 to expand creator formats (Medium blog).
Industries
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Knowable's financing or category context.
FAQs about Knowable
Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.
Last updated:
Editorial note: AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.