REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Entrepreneur Media, the leading platform for business owners, founders, and builders, has joined Mercurius Media Capital (MMC) as a Strategic Limited Partner, becoming the latest media powerhouse to participate in MMC’s media-for-equity venture platform.
In a media-for-equity arrangement, startups receive media inventory in exchange for equity, allowing them to preserve cash for other business needs. It is a setup that aligns perfectly with Entrepreneur’s mission to help startups thrive.
For nearly five decades, Entrepreneur has been the definitive voice of entrepreneurship, helping business leaders start, run, and grow their ventures with trusted editorial content, practical business tools, and expert strategies shared across digital, magazine, social, podcast, video/television, and event platforms.
As an MMC partner, Entrepreneur expands on that mission—giving high-potential startup founders the opportunity to share their stories and earn the attention they need to establish their brands and grow sales. Through Entrepreneur, startups reach an audience of leaders running their own companies.
In fact, 63% of Entrepreneur Media’s audience are business owners, partners, or C-suite executives; 72% are opinion leaders; 83% are purchase decision-makers for their companies; and 81% say they are the first to try new products. Entrepreneur is #1 among business media for all these categories (Ipsos 2026).
For companies across the MMC portfolio, this partnership creates a powerful platform for growth. By tapping into Entrepreneur’s engaged audience of founders, executives, investors, and business decision-makers.
“Entrepreneur exists to help entrepreneurs and their businesses grow and succeed, and our partnership with MMC lets us do that in a new way for startup founders,” says Bill Shaw, president of Entrepreneur Media. “By combining our reach and the attention we command with MMC’s media-for-equity platform, we can help founders put their brands in front of the right business decision-makers and turn that attention into traction.”
"Founders don't just need visibility, they need credibility. Entrepreneur has spent decades earning the trust of entrepreneurs, making it one of the most influential platforms for business builders. Through this partnership, our portfolio companies can engage the audiences that matter most with a level of authenticity that traditional marketing can't replicate."
— Piyush Puri, Founding Partner, Mercurius Media Capital
About Mercurius Media Capital
Mercurius Media Capital (MMC) is redefining venture capital through a new investment model: media as growth capital. As the first U.S.-based media-for-equity venture fund, MMC provides consumer-facing companies with premium advertising inventory in exchange for equity, enabling them to scale brand awareness and customer acquisition without sacrificing cash reserves.
Co-founded by Satyan Gajwani and Piyush Puri, who bring over fifteen years of venture investing and media operating experience including a track record of over $3 billion in investments through The Times of India Group. MMC launched in December 2023. Today, the firm has secured $242 million in media capital commitments (including optional capital) through partnerships with leading media companies, including Sinclair Broadcast Group, TelevisaUnivision, A+E Global Media, Atmosphere TV, and more to deliver nationwide reach across various channels such as television, digital, streaming, out-of-home, and more.
Since inception, MMC has deployed ~$45 million across its portfolio, helping founders scale faster through a capital-efficient model that combines venture capital, premium media, and strategic operating support. By turning advertising into an investment rather than an expense, MMC is pioneering a new category of venture capital built for the modern consumer economy.
About Entrepreneur Media LLC
For nearly 50 years, Entrepreneur has helped business leaders start, run and grow their ventures. Today, the brand helps fuel creative ideas and strategize breakthrough growth plans for millions of business owners across Entrepreneur.com, Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur’s Startups magazines, social communities, a podcast network, linear and streaming television, email newsletters, books, and live and virtual events.
For Accredited Investors Only.
Media Contact: Allie Yazel, Director, Marketing, Mercurius Media Capital, allison@mmc.us
