Gimlet Media than advertising. Members were given early access to pilots for new Gimlet shows, a Gimlet T-shirt, and access to the company's Slack channel. Gimlet then hired Blumberg's spouse and former "Rachel Maddow Show" producer Nazanin Rafsanjani to explore other ways to diversify the company's revenue. Rafsanjani spearheads Gimlet Creative, a wing of the company that "creates highly produced narrative audio in partnership with brands." On August 2, 2017, Gimlet announced it closed a $15 million Series B investment round, led by Stripes Group. Emerson Collective, Graham Holdings, Betaworks, and Cross Culture Investors also contributed to the round. In September, 2017,
Gimlet Media take seemingly uninteresting topics and, by exploring their stories, show that they are actually of interest. "Twice Removed" was Gimlet's first family history podcast, which aimed to prove "we're one big family." The show was announced on December 5, with the first season debuting on December 16, 2016. Featured individuals included Abbi Jacobson of "Broad City", Ted Allen of the Food Network and writer Dan Savage. On June 16, 2017, Gimlet announced that no new episodes would be produced beyond a series finale released that same day. In 2016, Gimlet launched Gimlet Creative, the company's branded podcast division. Gimlet Creative