SERIES D
UP FRONT
When this is not about a Vincent
MARK HOYER
Normally when I write the words “Series D” it would be about a 1950s Vincent. In this case, however, Series D refers to $52 million in funding raised by our startup parent company, Octane, to help, as the press release said, “Scale Octane’s Buying Solution for Major Recreational Purchases.”
Yeah, I know. That’s just how press releases usually sound. I’ll translate a little and add context. Octane is a financial technology company otherwise known by the cool kids as fintech. Fintech aims to make financial products—including loans for powersports things like motorcycles, UTVs, and ATVs—way easier to access and use through application of technology. After almost a year with the company, we have found out this is something it does exceptionally well.
To a person, the company is super smart and focused on solving real problems. And I have never felt more like a wheelie-riding English major than do I now.
Which is actually good because they want the editorial team to pretty much be the highly skilled riding/driving/roosting/sliding writers/photo models/video people we’ve always been. The part our magazines play in Octane is beautifully, traditionally, the role magazines have always played: impartial, expert reviews of the machines we love to help you figure out which one suits you best. That’s it. All they want us to do is collect accurate test data and make great stories about motorcycles (or UTVs, ATVs, and ebikes in the case of our other brands). When the time comes that you’d like to buy and you’d like to finance that purchase, Octane will help you down that path, and even assist in finding a dealer.
We no longer sell ad impressions and we sure hope you like the adfree magazine and much cleaner and faster ad-free experience on the websites. It’s plain across the internet that the traditional ad model of “put your message next to our content for a small fee” is a hard business, and Google & Co. has driven down the cost per ad click for, oh, perhaps 85 consecutive quarters. If you’re an ad-selling publisher, that drives up the number of ads that need to be served per user, which then overheats the computers of loyal readers like you and burns up everyone’s patience.
We are not alone as a media organization using a different model to support enthusiasts and share our passion through storytelling. The way we are working is not unlike that of Hagerty Insurance, which has a media arm that produces a lot of high-quality editorial work to support the classic car and bike hobby. Alongside very few conventional ads are a well-curated number of ways to click through to Hagerty’s insurance offerings. Like them, we aim to share our great pastime with enthusiasts to support, share, and grow our favorite pursuits. On our websites, when the inspiration strikes to buy something new, you’ll be able to click Octane’s financing widget.
“We are not alone as a media organization using a different model to support enthusiasts and share our passion through storytelling. ”
We have a lot of big plans in the works to improve the website’s speed, organization, and presentation so it works better for readers like you. Octane is now valued at $900 million, and getting a successful Series D funding means it has proven it knows what it’s doing to the general market. Cycle World and the rest of the websites will benefit from its tech expertise and consumer focus.
The editorial staff will keep riding wheelies and getting the best stories in the business.
