21st Century Fox has backed Jeremy Clarkson’s DriveTribe venture with US$6.5 million. The new digital portal will launch in November with Clarkson’s fellow presenters Richard Hammond and James May and backing from former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman and tech entrepreneur Ernesto Schmitt.

DriveTribe is planning “the world’s digital hub for motoring”, with ‘tribes’ creating “community-augmented channels” that blur the “traditional demarcation between storyteller and audience”.

Each tribe will be tailored to the individual user and displayed as a social timeline and will be hosted by Clarkson, Hammond and May – who soon launch their Top Gear rival The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime Video – along with invited stars, bloggers, writers and videographers.

Fox becomes the latest investor in DriveTribe, after a Series A funding saw the likes of Breyer Capital and Atomico buying in to the business. Fox Networks Group CEO Peter Rice said Rupert Murdoch’s media group was “blown away” by the ingenuity of DriveTribe. “We’re excited to collaborate with the DriveTribe team on this new approach to digital content and to help them expand their business on a worldwide basis.”

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