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George Vanous

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1. Known for: Founding the Freedom! YouTube multi-channel network and the Heartbeat platform (per PR Newswire)
2. Role: Founder and CEO of Freedom! and Heartbeat (according to Vanous)
3. Previous venture: Founder of TGN (The Gaming Network), sold to BroadbandTV in 2012 (per PR Newswire)
4. Company entity: Freedom! Family Limited (developer of the Heartbeat extension)
5. MCN launch: Freedom! launched on 1 December 2013
6. Integrated network: AID Partners agreed in October 2016 to acquire a 50.01% controlling interest in any.TV, the owner of Freedom!; according to Vanous, the transaction did not complete
7. Base of operations: Lives in Dubai since 2018 (according to tips.h.ki); GitHub profile lists Vancouver, Canada
8. Online presence: YouTube channel 'George Vanous'; h.ki profile; Medium; GitHub (GeorgeHelpsYou)
9. Other role: Managing director, Fortys Four Building Contracting LLC, Dubai (per his LinkedIn profile)
10. Education: Simon Fraser University (per his LinkedIn profile)
11. TGN
12. According to PR Newswire, George Vanous previously founded and built the TGN (The Gaming Network) company, which he sold to BroadbandTV in 2012. In September 2014, BroadbandTV relaunched TGN with 11 new shows across Twitch and YouTube. TGN's head of network development Andrew Wall told Tubefilter in September 2014 that the relaunched network would keep a clear focus on gaming itself, and would not branch out to embrace other "geek culture" topics.
13. Freedom!
14. Vanous is the founder and CEO of Freedom!, a YouTube multi-channel network (MCN). He founded the company and launched the Freedom! MCN on 1 December 2013. In a company press release of December 2014, Freedom! stated that the network had surpassed 100,000 channels and 50 million subscribers, and ranked No. 7 in the English-language YouTube market and No. 1 in the Chinese-language market with localised Mandarin support. The same December 2014 release stated that Freedom! delivered 1.3 billion video views per month in its body, and 1.1 billion in its 'About Freedom!' section. A press release cited by the South China Morning Post in October 2016 stated that Freedom! then had over 177,000 channel partners, 211 million subscribers and 45 billion aggregate views worldwide; Variety, citing the same release, reported the aggregate views figure as 46 billion.
15. Freedom!'s December 2014 release announced two US$100,000 sponsorship programmes (for small channels and for gamers) and US$10,000 monthly sponsorships for young entrepreneurs under 'Master Networks powered by Freedom!', and said the company had acquired a 20,000-square-foot office and studio space in Eastwood City, Philippines. According to tips.h.ki, in November 2020 Freedom! said it operated nine companies in eight countries with US$40 million in annual revenue. According to the Freedom! 'benefits to creators' page, Freedom! pays creators every seven days, in contrast to YouTube's monthly payment schedule.
16. AID Partners and any.TV
17. On 13 October 2016, AID Partners Technology Holdings announced that it had agreed to acquire a 50.01% controlling interest in any.TV, the owner of the Freedom! network, for US$60 million (HK$468 million). South China Morning Post reported that the announcement was made by AID Partners chairman and chief investment officer Kelvin Wu and executive director and CEO Gilbert Ho. AID Partners is listed on the Growth Enterprise Market section of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. CB Insights lists any.TV as headquartered in Hong Kong and records AID Partners Technology Holdings as an investor, with the latest funding round listed as 'Corporate Majority'. According to Vanous, the transaction was never completed.
18. Heartbeat
19. Vanous's YouTube channel bio describes Heartbeat as a startup he founded 'to repeat the process again' after Freedom!. The Chrome Web Store listing for the Heartbeat extension names the developer as 'Freedom! Family Limited' and gives the support email as [email protected]. A Freedom! 'benefits to creators' page describes Heartbeat Moments as a tool that lets YouTube viewers press the H key to save favourite video moments. According to YouTube (Freedom!), in the Freedom! YouTube video 'Be useful' (30 May 2023), Vanous presented 'Be useful' as Heartbeat's mission statement and demonstrated Heartbeat Moments and Heartbeat Photos. Vanous's '6 Years in Dubai' video of 29 December 2024 stated that Heartbeat had 3,125 signed-in users and 125,000 assets created as of that video.
20. Public appearances and statements
21. According to tips.h.ki, YouTube invited Vanous to speak at the YouTube Enterprise Summit 2020 for EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) to address over 100 YouTube staff and MCN executives about Freedom!. According to Freedom! (tips.h.ki), a full recording of his speech was published by Freedom! on 22 November 2020.
22. Freedom Games
23. According to 80.lv, Freedom Games was founded in 2020 and secured US$10 million in funding in a round led by Play Ventures with participation from Nashville Capital Network (NCN) and GFR Fund; Ben Robinson, described by 80.lv as COO and Co-Founder of Freedom Games, was quoted on the round. The company said the funding would go towards expanding staff, growing its indie catalogue, and developing its community platform wiki.gg. Vanous states that he co-founded Freedom Games with Donovan Duncan in 2020 and that he closed its US$10 million Series A at a US$40 million post-money valuation; his role is not documented by an independent source.
24. Personal life
25. Vanous's YouTube channel bio describes him as the father of four girls. A tips.h.ki post of 23 May 2023 states that Vanous has lived in Dubai with his wife and four daughters since 2018; his GitHub profile lists Vancouver, Canada, as his location. His LinkedIn profile records studies at Simon Fraser University.
26. Online presence
27. Vanous's YouTube channel names him as the founder and CEO of Freedom! and Heartbeat. The Freedom! YouTube channel About page lists him as CEO and founder and points to his h.ki profile. His Medium profile identifies him as 'CEO & Founder of Freedom!' and links to https://www.freedom.tm/. His GitHub account 'GeorgeHelpsYou' identifies him as 'CEO and founder of Freedom!' under the organisation name 'Freedom! Family Limited' and lists Vancouver, Canada, as location. His LinkedIn profile lists him as managing director of Fortys Four Building Contracting LLC in Dubai.
28. 2012 — Vanous sells TGN to BroadbandTV (per Freedom!'s December 2014 release).
29. 2013-12-01 — Freedom! MCN launched.
30. 2014-09-03 — BroadbandTV relaunches TGN with 11 new shows on Twitch and YouTube.
31. 2014-12-03 — Freedom! announces 100,000 channels and 50 million subscribers in its first-anniversary release.
32. 2016-10-13 — AID Partners Technology Holdings announces agreement to acquire a 50.01% controlling interest in any.TV for US$60 million (HK$468 million). According to Vanous, the deal did not complete.
33. 2020 — Freedom Games is founded; Vanous states that he co-founded it with Donovan Duncan.
34. 2020-11-22 — According to Freedom! (tips.h.ki), Vanous speaks at the YouTube Enterprise Summit 2020 for EMEA; recording published by Freedom!.
35. 2022-11-07 — Freedom Games announces US$10 million funding round led by Play Ventures.
36. 2023-12-01 — Freedom! marks its tenth anniversary.

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