Media & entertainment startups in Los Angeles

Thomas 'Temperrr' Oliveira, Richard 'Banks' Bengston & others

Founded 2010 as a CoD trickshot collective, FaZe grew into a leading esports/creator brand and went public via SPAC (NASDAQ: FAZE) in 2022 at a ~$725M valuation. After the stock collapsed, GameSquare acquire...

Evan Spiegel & Bobby Murphy

Founded 2011, the camera/AR company behind Snapchat and Spectacles; anchor of LA's Silicon Beach. Public since 2017 (NYSE: SNAP). Continues to push AR Lens developer tools and Spectacles AR glasses (5th gen ...

Michael Blend & Chuck Ursini

Responsive-acquisition-marketing (RAM) adtech platform matching consumer intent to advertisers across owned properties and its network. Went public via SPAC in 2022 (NYSE: SST). Operates search/monetization ...

Jeb Terry (CEO)

Immersive 'Shared Reality' entertainment company building dome venues plus the underlying LED/camera tech for live sports, music and art. Opened its first LA venue at Hollywood Park in 2024. Raised $250M+ in...

Jonathan Strauss & Alexandre Williams

Founded 2015, a music-tech company spanning distribution, rights management, publishing and creator monetization. Raised $165M at a $1B valuation (Flexpoint Ford, 2024), then a $450M equity+debt round at a $...

Akash Nigam & Evan Rosenbaum

Founded 2017, Genies builds AI-powered 'Smart Avatars' plus SDKs/dev tools for games, apps and virtual experiences, and made its name creating celebrity avatars (Rihanna, Justin Bieber). Its 2021 Series C ra...

John Linden & Rudy Koch

Founded 2018 by ex-Activision executives, Mythical builds Web3/blockchain games and the Mythical Platform. Its 2022 Series C hit ~$150M at a $1.25B valuation (a16z, NFL's 32 Equity, Michael Jordan among back...

Walter Driver & Javier Ferreira

Founded 2011, Scopely is the world's #2 (and US #1) mobile games maker by revenue, behind Monopoly Go!, Marvel Strike Force, Star Trek Fleet Command and Stumble Guys. Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group (PIF) a...

Aaron DeBevoise

Founded 2019, provides upfront capital, analytics and AI tools to YouTube creators in exchange for licensing back-catalog rights. Hit a $1.7B valuation (SoftBank-led, 2022) and has deployed ~$980M+ to creato...

John Haller & Peter Sinclair

Founded 2020, a music-financing fintech giving independent artists non-recourse advances repaid from a share of streaming/airplay revenue while retaining ownership. Raised $124M+ (backers include Citi), with...

Igor Vaks

Enterprise influencer-marketing 'operating system' unifying creator discovery, campaign management, payments and measurement with AI-powered analytics and fraud detection. Customers include Disney, Unilever ...

Walker Williams & Will Taylor

All-in-one creator-commerce platform for shops, memberships and fan engagement, targeting the $300B+ social-commerce opportunity. Raised $17M (Lightspeed, Initialized, Seven Seven Six) and appointed YouTuber...

Ophir Tanz (founder)

Founded 2008, a contextual-first adtech company using computer vision and AI to place ads based on page context rather than personal data — well-positioned for a cookieless world. Raised a $75M Goldman Sachs...

Alec Ellin

Direct-to-fan CRM and 'drop' platform for artists, athletes, podcasters and creators to own audience relationships (SMS/email) outside social algorithms. Raised ~$8M+ (Eldridge-led). Started in music and exp...

John Gentry (CEO)

Independent omnichannel supply-side platform (SSP) powering programmatic advertising across CTV, mobile and web. Founded 2007 and HQ'd in Pasadena; among the largest independent SSPs, consistently profitable...

Lucy Guo

Creator-monetization platform (founded 2024) for celebrities, athletes and creators to run memberships, paid DMs and direct fan commerce. Raised a $40M Series A (Bond-led) plus a physical creator HQ in Holly...

Cole Mason & Guy Oseary

Founded 2020, a creator-collaboration and influencer-marketing marketplace connecting brands and creators for social campaigns and creator-to-creator collabs. Raised a $16M seed+Series A (Seven Seven Six led...

Milana Rabkin Lewis

Founded 2015, an artist-first music distribution and payments/splits platform with development services for independents. Raised ~$20M+ over its life and became a leading independent distributor; acquired by...

Robert Davari & Stephen Lord

Live-events commerce and ticketing platform positioned as a Ticketmaster challenger, serving 700+ venues, pro teams and major festivals. Investors include Dragoneer and Sony Innovation Growth Fund. Joined th...

Adam Arrigo & Aaron Lemke

Founded 2016, a virtual-concert and immersive live-entertainment platform blending live music, gaming and broadcast tech. Raised $30M+ (Warner Music partnered). Produced 50+ 'Waves' for artists including Jus...

(formed via TV Time / Mediamorph merger)

SaaS platform for the content-entertainment ecosystem, streamlining streaming analytics, royalty reporting and content-distribution ops across SVOD/AVOD/FAST/TVOD. Owns consumer tracking app TV Time and TheT...

Michael Mothner

Independent performance-marketing / martech agency-platform spanning paid media, SEO, data and 'Polaris' analytics tooling. ~$96M revenue and a 2024 Inc. 5000 honoree. One of LA's largest independent digital...

Rich Raddon & Zach James

AI-powered content-classification and brand-suitability adtech used to target and verify ad placements on YouTube, TikTok, Meta and CTV. Partners include Paramount, Universal, Netflix and Fox. A leader in GA...

LA-based livestream shopping marketplace (collectibles, fashion, electronics) co-founded by Grant LaFontaine and Logan Head. In Oct 2025 it raised a $225M Series F at an $11.5B valuation (~$968M total raised...