# Jim Bankoff

> Jim Bankoff is a seed investor at Vox Media (Washington) backing Music and Hardware. See 3 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Vox Media](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/vox-media)
- Location: Washington, United States
- Total investments: 3
- Last investment: Jul 2009
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbankoff/
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/Bankoff

Jim Bankoff is a seed investor at Vox Media in Washington focused on Music and Hardware. Jim Bankoff is the Chairman and CEO of Vox Media, the pioneering media company known for building modern media properties and the platforms that enable them. Vox Media’s editorial networks and businesses include SB Nation, Eater, The Verge, Vox, Curbed, Recode & Code Conferences, Polygon, Vox Creative, Concert, Chorus, Vox Entertainment, andthe Vox Media Podcast Network.A veteran of the digital industry, he also developed and led dozens of the most notable digital brands including AOL, Mapquest, Moviefone, AOL Music and Engadget as an EVP at AOL. Bankoff co-founded TMZ.com, won an Emmy award for his production of the Live8 Concerts, and oversaw AOL’s industry-leading applications including AIM, ICQ, and Netscape.Bankoff has been named to Adweek’s Power List; The Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media; The Washingtonian’s Tech Titans; Business Insider’s Silicon Alley 100; and The Guardian’s 100 Most Powerful People in Media.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Music | 1 | 33% |
| Hardware | 1 | 33% |
| Software | 1 | 33% |
| Electronics | 1 | 33% |
| File Sharing | 1 | 33% |

8 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 2 | 67% |
| Angel | 1 | 33% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| gdgt | gdgt (parent company: PastFuture) is a consumer electronics site by Peter Rojas and Ryan Block. Rojas was the founding editor of Engadget and Gizmodo and Block was editor-in-chief of Engadget. | $550K | Seed | Jul 01, 2009 |  |
| Qloud | Qloud (pronounced "cloud") is an online music service launched by former AOL'ers Mike Lewis and Toby Murdock and backed by Steve Case's Revolution LLC and former music industry executives. The service allows users to enjoy and share their music collections within their favorite social networks. The company powers the My Musicapplication on Facebook, was also a launch partner in The service grew to over 3 million users in its first 6 months after launch. In Q2 2008, it was acquired by The My Music application competes with similar social music services like Following the acquisition, Mike Lewis and Toby Murdock became EVP of Product and Engineering at BUZZMEDIA |  | Angel | Nov 06, 2007 |  |
| Qloud | Qloud (pronounced "cloud") is an online music service launched by former AOL'ers Mike Lewis and Toby Murdock and backed by Steve Case's Revolution LLC and former music industry executives. The service allows users to enjoy and share their music collections within their favorite social networks. The company powers the My Musicapplication on Facebook, was also a launch partner in The service grew to over 3 million users in its first 6 months after launch. In Q2 2008, it was acquired by The My Music application competes with similar social music services like Following the acquisition, Mike Lewis and Toby Murdock became EVP of Product and Engineering at BUZZMEDIA |  | Seed | May 01, 2006 |  |

3 of 3 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Revolution](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/revolution) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Betaworks](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/betaworks) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Vox Media

VC Fund · Washington, United States

Vox Media is a media company that creates, publishes, and distributes online content, and connects young adults worldwide. It offers SB Nation, an online sports media brand and network of individual fan-centric sports communities, The Verge, a technology publication, Polygon, a publication for adult gamers, Vox.com, an interest news site, Eater,food and dining publication, Racked, a shopping, beauty, and fashion publication, Curbed, a real estate and home brand publication, and Re/code, a tech business publication. Vox Media also operates Vox Creative, a division that creates marketing stories for brands. It also offers advertising services via Vox Advertising, and through an advertising solution Concert. Markos Moulitsas, Joshua Topolsky, Jerome Armstrong, and Tyler Bleszinski founded Sportsblogs on July 14, 2003 that became Vox Media in 2012. Its headquarters is in the District of Columbia with additional offices in New York City.

5 contacts available at Vox Media.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Jim Bankoff | Chairman & CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jim-bankoff |
| Marty Moe | President | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/marty-moe |
| Andrew Losowsky | Head of Coral | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andrew-losowsky |
| Jerome Armstrong | Co-Founder, Advisor, former Board Executive | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jerome-armstrong |
| Lauren Fisher | Chief Legal Officer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lauren-fisher |

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## FAQ

### What does Jim Bankoff invest in?

Jim Bankoff invests primarily in Music, Hardware and Software startups, most often at Seed and Angel stage. Most of the 3 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Jim Bankoff last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Jim Bankoff closed in Jul 2009. Shizune tracks 3 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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