YouTube-focused TV production company Maker Studios is on the verge of landing a $50m funding round led by Time Warner, according to a report on All Things Digital. It suggests the round may value the company at between $150m-$200m when it closes in the next three weeks. This would make Maker Studios the second YouTube-focused production company to land major funding in 2012, following a $35m round for Machinima in May. There’s a music angle here too: former Myspace Music president Courtney Holt is chief operating officer at Maker Studios (Bulletin, 1-Nov-11), and the company has worked with musicians, signing a development deal with artist Mike Tompkins in April 2012 to run his YouTube channel and build his online fanbase (Bulletin, 4-Apr-12).
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Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…