StarClinch raises Seed Round from Artha Venture Fund &; Nitish Mittersain; focuses on creating a Fiverr business model for performing artists
Eyes 7-fold growth in next 12 months – accelerate product development, improve the market footprint, and upgrade technology platform
India’s first aggregator model in the entertainment services space with a roster of 15000+artists and 6500+ performances booked on the platform
INDIA, Mumbai, Dec 23, 2021: StarClinch, India’s leading discovery and booking platform for performance artists and live entertainers, announced today that it has raised ₹1.75 crores in a seed round, led by Artha Venture Fund (AVF), India's first early-stage micro-VC fund. The round also saw Nitish Mittersain, Founder and MD of Nazara Technologies, participate in the round. StarClinch is AVF's 14th investment and 23 rd funding round from its recently closed ₹225 crores micro-VC fund.
The Delhi-based startup will scale up substantially, aiming at a 2-fold growth in talent onboarding in the next 12 months. StarClinch creates an important financial trust layer between the buyers and sellers of performing artists & live entertainment. The startup revolutionizes this untapped space in the gig economy, much like the gaps fulfilled by Fiverr and Airbnb in online gigs and homestays, respectively.
StarClinch boasts a bevy of A-listers as talent, such as Kangana Ranaut, Baadshah, Guru Randhawa, Monali Thakur, Kumar Sanu, Astha Gill, Tony Kakkar, Radhika Apte, Zakir Khan, Kenneth Sebastian, and more. Besides the prominent names, the platform can book from over 7000 musicians, 500 dancers, and 800 standup comedians. The company creates an escrow system to secure the payments for artists to perform at corporate events, weddings, conventions, among other events.
The money is released to the artist after the talent buyer confirms that the artist served as agreed, thereby filling a vital trust lacuna in this $15 Bn ecosystem. Their clientele includes names like Cadbury, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Nyyka, Unilever, ITC, Byjus, Livspace, BrowserStack, Gojek, The Indian Navy, Indian Army, State Governments amongst others.
Founded by Varun Agrawal, StarClinch will deploy this capital to expand its burgeoning talent roster of more than 15,000 artists. The team will grow to concentrate on corporate associations, upgrading its tech platform, and innovating new product offerings to cater to the online, offline, and hybrid events segment. Moreover, the startup will expand to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns, to provide an equal opportunity and a level playing field to artists from these regions as well.
Varun Agrawal, Founder, StarClinch, said, “At StarClinch, we have always emphasized leveraging technology creatively while adapting to an emerging entertainment services marketplace. We have been introducing solutions to bridge the demand-supply gap, yield value-centric results for our talent and clients. Owing to the significant talent pool in tier X towns and cities, we have our eyes peeled for budding talent from all 4 corners of the country! The demand for live gigs and performances from tier 1 and tier 2 cities are growing at an unprecedented rate. We are privileged to onboard Artha Venture Fund as an active investor and aim to use their expertise and extensive network to fuel our growth in the years to come.”
Anirudh A Damani, Managing Partner, Artha Venture Fund, said, “The pandemic has provided the perfect environment for a paradigm shift to a $12 billion industry. It is time for this gig industry to reorganize itself and accept formal market practices. Therefore, we chose StarClinch because of Varun’s singular focus on becoming a trust layer for a fragmented industry.
I believe that Starclinch can upend the industry by bringing transparency, trust, and respectability to a fantastic profession! We are excited to have them join the AVF family!”
With the era of virtual events, reports indicate that the live events industry is likely to grow at 52% CAGR and is estimated to be valued at ₹9500 crores by 2023. With the increase in the number of on-ground and destination weddings, the demand for artists is also expected to increase. StarClinch is eyeing to capitalize on the said opportunities while addressing unstructured talent discovery, reference checks, and performance assurance.
About StarClinch
Founded by Varun Agrawal, StarClinch is a tech-enabled marketplace of Entertainers. It provides open platform access to an extensive list of singers, stand-up comedians, performers, dance troupes, live bands, photographers, instrumentalists, models, and anchors. It serves clients through discovery, booking, consumption, and payments on a unified online platform. The platform follows an escrow account model where settlements are done only after service delivery, thus providing payment assurance to artists and performance assurance to buyers.
For more information, please visit: www.starclinch.com
About Artha Venture Fund
Artha Venture Fund (AFV) is India's first early-stage micro-VC firm with a corpus of ₹225 crores. Since its inception in late 2018, AFV has primarily funded and supported multiple startups that operate as enablers and entities focused on solving the challenges of Indian consumers and businesses. The current fund allocates thematic investment for B2B, B2C/D2C, and D2C enablers. Led by Anirudh A Damani, a second-generation investor, the firm has a network of limited partners, co-investors, founders, and family offices that traverse the globe. AVF's portfolio includes Agnikul, LenDenClub, HobSpace, PiggyRide, Daalchini, Kabbadi Adda, and more.
For more information, please visit www.artha.vc
