Video-Focused Licensing Startup WavMaker Officially Launches, Reveals $5 Million Seed Raise

WavMaker, a music licensing startup designed with video creators in mind, has launched. Photo Credit: Jakob Owens

WavMaker, a music licensing startup geared towards video creators, has officially launched and announced $5 million in seed funding.Tennessee-based WavMaker reached out with word of its formal debut and multimillion-dollar backing today. Founded by former Soundstripe higher-up Matt Arcaini (who doubles as CEO), industry vet Mark Stuart (director of label services), and Wavy Records co-founder Caleb Grimm (director of marketing), WavMaker bills itself specifically as “a next-generation music licensing platform.”

On the capital front, Vicky Patel, co-founder of film production house Monarch Media and “a principal” in the aforementioned Wavy Records, led WavMaker’s $5 million seed raise.

Moving forward, subscription-based WavMaker says it’ll use the involved capital to bankroll expansion initiatives, bring on additional team members, and bolster customer-outreach efforts.

Bigger picture, WavMaker has emphasized the belief that video creators are grappling with “inconsistent or stagnant libraries with high costs and confusing licensing structures.” As such, it intends to afford the professionals access to a pre-licensed library that’s “refreshed constantly” with new music.“As a musician and creator myself,” CEO Matt Arcaini said, “I understand the constant struggle to find affordable, quality music for video content. Sifting through a platform to find the right music can be frustrating and limit creativity.

“We created WavMaker to offer creators and musicians a mutually beneficial and frustration-free solution. Our platform frees creators from worrying about acquiring high-quality music and allows them to focus on producing incredible content. Musicians have a new outlet for their music. It’s a win-win for all,” concluded Arcaini.

Touting WavMaker’s technical capabilities in separate remarks – the platform wasn’t live at the time of writing but is expected to open up this month – CTO Jack Whitis pointed to “an intuitive user interface” and more.

“Our team has put tremendous care into building an intuitive user interface that makes finding and acquiring high-quality music easier than ever,” the former Soundstripe and Rosie engineering exec communicated in part. “Our platform abstracts away the inherent complexity of music licensing and makes finding the right song part of the creative process. We’re constantly trying to put ourselves in the creator’s shoes and anticipate the things that might slow down their workflow.”

In other funding news, social-focused remix startup Hook earlier in March expanded its own seed round, while musician-collaboration platform BeatConnect disclosed an additional $1.86 million in funding, elevating its total capital raised to roughly $4.3 million.