Hoopr,
India’s pioneering music licensing platform building a transparent and
sustainable ecosystem for artists and brands, has raised an undisclosed amount
from The Chennai Angels as part of its ongoing Pre-Series A round. The round
has already seen participation from Inflection Point Ventures and MeitY
(Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology).
The
funds will be deployed to scale Hoopr’s twin-engine ecosystem – Hoopr,
which serves Youtube and Instagram creators with copyright-safe music for digital
videos, and Hoopr Smash, India’s first Bollywood music licensing
platform for brands and enterprises. The investment will also support
technology development, including Hoopr’s proprietary system for detecting
violations of copyrighted music and enabling transparent revenue sharing with
artists and labels.
Hoopr
has emerged as the defining player in India’s digital music licensing space,
serving over 4 lakh creators – including marquee names like Flying Beast,
Ranveer Brar, Curly Tales and Mr. Indian Hacker – and 180+ brands such as
Marico, ITC, Himalaya, Myntra, and Rajasthan Royals. On the supply side, Hoopr
Smash has aggregated catalogues from over 21 leading Indian labels including
YRF and Universal Music Group, along with 3 international labels, making it the
single largest platform for licensing Bollywood and Indian music.
In
a landmark move, Hoopr recently launched its Artist Accelerator programme in
partnership with Universal Music Group, creating original music and recreations
specifically for the rapidly growing sync licensing market. The platform has
also signed a deal with IPRS (Indian Performing Right Society) and forged a
partnership with Adobe, further strengthening its position at the intersection
of music, technology, and content creation.
Hoopr’s
sync capabilities were recently showcased when it placed the title track in Saali
Mohabbat produced by Jio Studios – a milestone that signals the platform’s
growing role in film and advertising music placement.
Commenting
on the fundraise, Gaurav Dagaonkar, CEO & Co-founder of Hoopr, IIM
Ahmedabad alumnus and award-winning music director, said: “India’s
creator economy has seen a 4x growth in creators over the past four years, and
yet music licensing remains one of the most unregulated and opaque parts of
this ecosystem. With over 80,000 brands and 5 lakh creators producing branded
content on social media, we’relooking at a ₹1,500 Crore opportunity that nobody
else is addressing at scale. Hoopr is building the infrastructure for
transparent music licensing – ensuring that every creator gets access to great
music legally, every brand is protected, and every artist gets paid fairly.
We’re grateful to The Chennai Angels and our investor partners for backing this
vision and joining us in building India’s music licensing rails.”
With
OTT platforms and digital advertising driving unprecedented demand for licensed
music in films, ads, and branded content, Hoopr is uniquely positioned to
capture this market. The platform’s technology stack -spanning discovery,
licensing, copyright detection, and artist revenue sharing – makes it the only
end-to-end solution in a space that has historically operated on handshake
deals and opaque terms.
Investment
Director from The Chennai Angels, Srinivasan B
said: Gaurav is first and foremost a musician, a creator and a songwriter.
When he saw chinks in the value proposition of music publishing, especially
from the emerging creator/ social media marketplace, Hoopr was his answer. He
took the conservative approach of first ensuring Hoopr was entrusted with the
rights for his own music, as well as rights to some of India’s greatest music
library – as seed capital – thus ensuring a virtuous cycle of cash flows that
allowed for the innovations and experiments that Hoopr is focussed on. He then
has approached labels, creators as well as end-user Clients, many of whom now
adorn the platform, creating an even more robust stream of revenues. This
business is all about network effects. I am confident that with Gaurav, his
team, and the advisors he has on board, will make this dream a reality –
ensuring godspeed growth and handsome returns thereon!
About
The Chennai Angels: The Chennai Angels (TCA) is one of India’s
most active Angel Investing groups. Founded in 2007, it is comprised of
successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting
and scaling large enterprises. Over the years, TCA has invested over INR 135 Cr
across 80+ start-ups in India.
About
Hoopr: Hoopr is India’s leading music licensing platform,
building a transparent ecosystem for the sustainable future of artists and
content creators. With over 4 lakh users, 200+ brand clients, and partnerships
with 21+ music labels including YRF and Universal Music Group, Hoopr operates a
twin-engine model — Hoopr for creators and Hoopr Smash for enterprises. The
platform’s technology enables seamless music discovery, digital licensing,
copyright violation detection, and artist revenue sharing. Launched in 2022,
the start-up has previously raised capital from 100Unicorns, 91Ventures,
Ventures Catalysts and IPV.
