Gaingels

Gaingels is a venture investment syndicate founded in 2014 and based in Burlington, Vermont, dedicated to supporting the LGBT+ community and its allies. The organization invests in companies led by LGBT+ founders and executives at all stages of development, as well as in established firms committed to enhancing their diversity and inclusivity. With a global portfolio comprising over 130 companies and $70 million in investment capital deployed, Gaingels plays a vital role in fostering an inclusive business environment. Additionally, the Gaingels network actively assists its portfolio companies in identifying and recruiting diverse talent for their leadership teams, while cultivating a vibrant community of industry leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs committed to driving positive social change through business initiatives.

Marc Baum

Investor

Jesse Curran

Principal

Paul Grossinger

Co-Founder and General Partner

Todd Havill

Research Operations and Principal, Investment

Surya Jayaweera

Angel Investor

Jennifer Jeronimo

CEO and General Partner

Jake Prigoff

General Partner

Peter Steinberg

General Partner

Alexandra Tanner

Investor

Lorenzo Thione

General Partner

Past deals in Entertainment

Volley

Series C in 2024
Volley Inc., established in 2013 and headquartered in San Francisco, specializes in developing conversational games optimized for messaging apps and voice interfaces like Alexa and Google Home. Their portfolio includes popular titles such as Song Quiz, Yes Sire, World Detective, Trivia Showdown, Math Showdown, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, 20 Questions, and Question of the Day. Volley's platform offers a diverse range of voice-based games and AI-powered interactive stories and podcasts, providing users with engaging audio entertainment experiences across various smart devices.

Bump

Seed Round in 2024
Bump is an AI-powered analytics platform designed to assist creators in managing their finances and accessing industry resources. The platform enables creators to track and collect lost revenue, qualify for micro-financing, and understand their real-time market value based on content performance across digital platforms. By offering personalized booking options for live sessions with entertainment industry executives, Bump aims to eliminate traditional barriers that creators encounter in obtaining advances and essential resources. This comprehensive approach helps creators streamline their financial processes and maximize their earnings from sponsorships and brand deals.

Atmosfy

Seed Round in 2023
Atmosfy is a platform that specializes in discovering dining and nightlife options through video content. Founded in 2021 and based in San Francisco, California, Atmosfy allows users to explore a variety of venues, including restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and cafes, both locally and remotely. The platform offers video insights alongside user reviews and recommendations, facilitating informed decision-making for individuals seeking dining and entertainment experiences. By combining visual content with curated feedback, Atmosfy enhances the way users choose their dining and nightlife destinations.

Overplay

Seed Round in 2023
Overplay is a venture-backed startup that provides a platform enabling users to create, share, and play casual mobile games quickly and without any coding experience. The company's innovative game engine utilizes artificial intelligence to transform passive video content into interactive experiences, allowing users to engage with videos in a more dynamic way. Overplay's technology supports the development of various game types, including racing, jumping, and drone piloting, offering brands the ability to create playable game advertisements based on their video content. This approach significantly reduces the cost and time needed to produce interactive media, making content more entertaining and engaging for users.

Champions Round

Series A in 2023
Champions Round, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based company that develops a gaming application focused on football and esports. Founded in 2018, the company aims to enhance the spectator experience for sports fans, particularly targeting Generation Z. Its application allows users to participate in fantasy leagues and tournaments, answer live questions, earn points, and win cash prizes. By facilitating individual participation in leagues without the need for group assembly, Champions Round lowers barriers to entry and encourages wider engagement in sports gaming. The application is available on the App Store, reflecting the company's commitment to accessible and interactive sports entertainment.

HUSSLUP

Seed Round in 2023
HUSSLUP is a platform designed to support creators in the media and entertainment industries by facilitating connections and collaboration. It provides users with personal profiles that feature verified credits and encrypted creative samples, helping to establish credibility within a diverse global community. The platform includes a Pro Search tool that allows executives, producers, and representatives to search for and connect with talent suited for their projects. Additionally, HUSSLUP enables creators to organize and share annotated contact lists by project, fostering networking opportunities. Through its marketplace, clients and brands can easily discover and engage with professionals, streamlining the hiring process and promoting collaboration on creative projects.

FuzzyBot

Seed Round in 2023
FuzzyBot is a gaming studio founded in 2020, specializing in the development of independent video games that blend various genres within imaginative worlds. The company is comprised of experienced industry veterans from notable studios, bringing a wealth of knowledge and creativity to its projects. FuzzyBot's development philosophy emphasizes a balance between ambitious vision and practical execution, ensuring a focus on delivering engaging games. The studio aims to create cooperative experiences that foster connection among players of all ages, prioritizing enjoyment and creativity over conventional gaming norms. Through its unique approach, FuzzyBot strives to spark excitement and curiosity in the gaming community.

MoviePass

Seed Round in 2023
MoviePass Inc. is a subscription-based service that allows customers in the United States to attend movies in theaters for a fixed monthly fee. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in New York, the company enables users to check into their chosen theaters using a mobile application, which also facilitates sharing their movie experiences on social networks. Customers can rate their movies and theater visits after watching. MoviePass was designed to provide access to numerous theatrical releases without blackout dates, catering to avid moviegoers. However, the company filed for voluntary liquidation under Chapter 7 in January 2020, marking the end of its operations as it entered joint administration with its parent company.

Playgig

Seed Round in 2022
Playgig is a game development company founded in 2021 by Bruno Schirch and based in Manhattan Beach, California. Specializing in cross-platform free-to-play team battle games, Playgig aims to create engaging experiences that allow friends to connect and play together in immersive environments filled with captivating characters. The company's focus is on delivering a collaborative gaming experience that serves as a foundation for a broader multimedia universe, encompassing future games and various media expressions. By prioritizing user engagement and community interaction, Playgig seeks to redefine how players interact in the gaming landscape.

Invisible Universe

Series A in 2022
Invisible Universe is an innovative animation studio focused on developing original character intellectual property for social media and web3 platforms. The company aims to create future household-name animated franchises more swiftly and cost-effectively than traditional animation models. By collaborating with celebrities and harnessing the synergy of creative talent, advanced animation technology, and software, Invisible Universe produces unique cartoon characters that engage audiences. This approach leverages the expansive reach of social media to connect with entertainment users, positioning the company at the forefront of the evolving landscape of animated content.

VersusGame

Series A in 2022
VersusGame is a global mobile gaming platform that enables users to engage with mainstream culture through interactive content. The platform allows participants to test their knowledge by predicting outcomes related to brands, celebrities, and cultural events, fostering an environment of competition and entertainment. Through the VersusGame app, mobile website, and social media channels like Snapchat and Instagram, users can compete in 1v1 matches for cash and prizes. The company also provides a business-to-business model, allowing creators and brands to incorporate gamified content into their own sites, apps, TV shows, and podcasts. By leveraging artificial intelligence, VersusGame enhances content interactivity, ensuring a fun and fair experience for all participants while creating value for both users and content creators.

Invisible Universe

Seed Round in 2022
Invisible Universe is an innovative animation studio focused on developing original character intellectual property for social media and web3 platforms. The company aims to create future household-name animated franchises more swiftly and cost-effectively than traditional animation models. By collaborating with celebrities and harnessing the synergy of creative talent, advanced animation technology, and software, Invisible Universe produces unique cartoon characters that engage audiences. This approach leverages the expansive reach of social media to connect with entertainment users, positioning the company at the forefront of the evolving landscape of animated content.

Playable Worlds

Series B in 2022
Playable Worlds, Inc. is an online game company founded in 2018 and based in San Marcos, California. The company specializes in developing cloud-native games that focus on creating immersive and persistent virtual worlds. By leveraging advanced technology, Playable Worlds aims to deliver rich simulations and engaging gameplay that evolves over time. Their approach enhances community interaction and regular content updates, providing users with a unique and convenient gaming experience. The company's commitment to collective online gaming enables vast-scale environments that offer both depth and accessibility in gameplay.

Dorian

Series A in 2022
Dorian Inc. is a company that develops a no-code platform aimed at enabling writers, particularly those targeting a female-first audience, to transform their narratives into interactive games. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Dorian's platform allows users to create characters and backgrounds using a variety of visual assets or to upload their own, all through an intuitive flowchart-style interface. This innovative approach not only allows writers to engage with their audience more personally but also provides them with opportunities to monetize their interactive content. By catering to the entertainment sector, Dorian empowers creators to connect with fans and participate in a game economy format.

DNABLOCK

Seed Round in 2022
DNABLOCK is leading the way to personalized entertainment, interaction, and inclusion by removing the barriers of 3D content creation. Our platform and REPLIKANT™ animation engine allows creatives, brands, and individuals the ability to generate bespoke, high-quality, digital beings without prohibitive post-production costs or specialized 3D programming knowledge. Our platform supports the exporting of content onto ANY device, making it simple to create fulfilling interactions with an enormous reach. We operate a scalable, high-end, computer graphics pipeline. This pipeline, combined with advanced machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and sentiment analysis, is our recipe for engaging, real-time, interactive, digital beings and the future of digital interface. As a forward-thinking company, we have focused on likeness protection and ownership; adding authentication mechanisms to guarantee control and transparency.

Encore Music Technologies

Seed Round in 2022
Encore Music Technologies is an interactive live music platform that enhances the connection between artists and their fans through a mobile application. Launched in 2020 by Kid Cudi, Ian Edelman, and Jonathan Gray, the platform allows artists to preview music, engage in direct communication with fans, and host live-stream concerts. By providing community-centered content and merchandise offerings, Encore aims to create new monetization opportunities for artists while enriching the fan experience. The application facilitates innovative ways for fans to support their favorite musicians, contributing to the sustainability of artists within the live music industry.

The Round

Seed Round in 2022
The Round is a software as a service (SaaS) company that specializes in real-time animation streaming for virtual applications. It has developed an end-to-end media platform that focuses on creating and distributing live digital performances. By leveraging virtual reality and real-time technology, The Round transforms immediate surroundings into immersive, holographic venues, making it possible for users to experience live entertainment in augmented reality. This innovative approach aims to enhance the way audiences engage with theatrical performances, bringing a new dimension to live entertainment.

Fable

Series A in 2021
Fable Group, Inc., established in 2019 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, operates a unique digital platform that delivers a social reading experience centered around stories. The company, founded by Padmasree Warrior, curates and shares stories tailored to users' moods, interests, and available time, creating a communal experience for mental wellness.

Fireside

Seed Round in 2021
Co-Founded by Falon Fatemi and Mark Cuban, Fireside is the first interactive Web3 streaming platform that turns creators and brands into the studio, networks, and streaming platforms of the future and invites audiences not to just view content, but participate in it. Fireside has already attracted creators like Jay Leno, Melissa Rivers, Craig Kilborn, and the Creator of HBO’s Entourage who are leveraging Fireside to invent new show formats and launch next generation entertainment networks. For more information or to request access to Fireside, please visit www.firesidechat.com or download Fireside for iOS.

Struum

Series A in 2021
Struum is an innovative platform that offers viewers access to thousands of shows and movies from over 60 streaming services through a single monthly subscription. By acting as an aggregator, Struum simplifies the streaming experience, allowing users to search for, discover, and redeem content using a credit system. The platform boasts a diverse array of programming, including documentaries, indie films, lifestyle series, classic films, true crime, LGBTQ+, and multicultural content, catering to a wide range of interests and preferences. Struum aims to enhance the viewing experience by enabling seamless access to beloved TV shows and movies, keeping audiences entertained and informed.

Jet Media Network

Seed Round in 2021
Jet Media Network is a media network operator focused on developing personalized digital platforms for high-profile athletes and celebrities. The company specializes in creating data-driven, next-generation media networks that empower communities and facilitate direct engagement between public figures and their fans. By offering bespoke mobile destinations, Jet Media Network enhances the ability of athletes and celebrities to connect with their audiences, fostering a more interactive and immersive fan experience.

Overplay

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Overplay is a venture-backed startup that provides a platform enabling users to create, share, and play casual mobile games quickly and without any coding experience. The company's innovative game engine utilizes artificial intelligence to transform passive video content into interactive experiences, allowing users to engage with videos in a more dynamic way. Overplay's technology supports the development of various game types, including racing, jumping, and drone piloting, offering brands the ability to create playable game advertisements based on their video content. This approach significantly reduces the cost and time needed to produce interactive media, making content more entertaining and engaging for users.

Genies

Series B in 2021
Genies, Inc. is a company specializing in avatar technology, enabling users to create personalized digital avatars for social media and messaging applications. By offering tools for designing avatars, avatar wearable fashion, and interactive experiences, Genies allows individuals to express their thoughts and feelings in a unique digital format. The company has gained significant traction among cultural influencers and has partnered with major music labels, serving as the official avatar provider for their artists. Genies has also launched consumer offerings, including an AR Developer Kit that facilitates the creation of interoperable avatar experiences in augmented reality. Their initial product, Silver Studio, allows users to design and trade digital fashion items. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Venice, California, Genies has successfully raised substantial investment, positioning itself as a leader in the avatar space and driving engagement for brands through the sale of exclusive digital goods.

Whatifi

Convertible Note in 2021
Whatifi is an innovative mobile storytelling platform that combines high production-value filmmaking with interactive social experiences. It enables users to engage in a unique form of user-generated filmmaking, allowing them to influence the direction of narratives within movies. The platform hosts films that include various plotlines and character arcs, presenting viewers with dilemmas at critical junctures where they must make decisions collectively during watch parties. This interactive approach enhances user engagement, making the viewing experience both entertaining and collaborative, as friends can watch and shape the story together through their choices.

Allstar

Seed Round in 2021
Allstar is a company that focuses on empowering gamers to become creators of short-form video content through innovative tools and infrastructure. Its platform allows users to easily capture, personalize, and share their most significant gaming and esports moments as high-quality videos. By democratizing gaming content, Allstar enables gamers to produce professional-quality clips, facilitating the discovery and sharing of their favorite gaming experiences across various platforms and devices. Through its technology, Allstar aims to enhance the gaming community's engagement and creativity by providing accessible content creation solutions.

Revry

Seed Round in 2021
Revry, Inc. is a digital media network dedicated to providing a diverse range of entertainment specifically for queer and allied audiences. Founded in 2016 and based in Glendale, California, Revry streams a variety of content, including films, television series, podcasts, music albums, and original programming. The platform aims to inspire exploration of LGBTQ content and is accessible across multiple devices, including connected TVs and mobile platforms, reaching millions of viewers globally. Revry's offerings include free live TV, movies, series, and exclusive queer programming, all designed to reflect the identities and experiences of the LGBTQ community. The company is led by a diverse team with expertise in technology, digital media, and LGBTQ advocacy.

Holler Studios

Series B in 2021
Holler Studios is a Conversational Media company that specializes in the creation and delivery of engaging content designed to enhance peer-to-peer messaging. Utilizing its advanced Suggestion AI Technology, Holler provides users with relevant content at optimal moments, ensuring effective communication. The company operates as a full-service animation production studio and creative agency, focusing on developing original animations and quirky characters that resonate with viewers through relatable narratives and diverse perspectives. With a team of skilled technologists, digital animators, and media industry professionals, Holler services over 1 billion messages daily, supporting clients in executing television commercials and brand campaigns effectively.

Struum

Venture Round in 2021
Struum is an innovative platform that offers viewers access to thousands of shows and movies from over 60 streaming services through a single monthly subscription. By acting as an aggregator, Struum simplifies the streaming experience, allowing users to search for, discover, and redeem content using a credit system. The platform boasts a diverse array of programming, including documentaries, indie films, lifestyle series, classic films, true crime, LGBTQ+, and multicultural content, catering to a wide range of interests and preferences. Struum aims to enhance the viewing experience by enabling seamless access to beloved TV shows and movies, keeping audiences entertained and informed.

Omaze

Series B in 2020
Omaze, Inc. is an online fundraising platform that aims to transform charitable giving by making it engaging and accessible. Founded in 2011 and based in Culver City, California, the company allows donors to participate in online auctions for unique prizes, such as exclusive experiences with celebrities, luxury vehicles, and vacation packages. Omaze provides the necessary resources for partnerships between celebrities, athletes, and nonprofit organizations, facilitating a comprehensive online fundraising experience. The platform connects influencers, nonprofits, and individual donors, enabling them to support various charitable initiatives. By combining entertainment with philanthropy, Omaze helps charities raise funds and increase awareness for their causes while fostering a greater impact through digital fundraising.

MasterClass

Series E in 2020
MasterClass is an online education platform that provides video-based courses across a diverse array of subjects, including arts, business, design, sports, and writing. The platform features lessons taught by renowned celebrities, athletes, and industry leaders, making high-quality education accessible to a broad audience. In addition to video instruction, MasterClass offers interactive exercises and supplementary course materials to enhance the learning experience. This approach allows users to develop their skills and knowledge, ultimately supporting their academic and professional growth.

VideoElephant

Series A in 2019
VideoElephant Limited is a video content solutions provider that caters to advertising technology providers, publishers, and advertisers globally. Established in 2011 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company operates an online marketplace that offers a diverse library of video content, including both short and long-form videos such as TV shows, movies, and documentaries. VideoElephant's platform allows users to select between a content-only solution or a comprehensive package that includes a video player, premium content, content delivery network (CDN), and monetization services. The company streamlines the content sourcing process by enabling users to access and license video content from multiple providers under a single contract. VideoElephant also has additional offices in London, Berlin, New York, and Los Angeles.

Overtime

Series B in 2019
Overtime is a sports network aimed at the next generation of sports fans, based in New York City. The company is known for producing original, digital-first content that spans platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, focusing on short-form, highly engaging media. Overtime operates several innovative sports leagues, including Overtime Elite in basketball, Overtime Select, OT7 in football, and OTX in boxing, designed to connect athletes with fans globally. The company’s business model leverages various revenue streams, including sponsorships, brand partnerships, e-commerce, licensing, and media rights. With a community of over 90 million fans and followers, Overtime is positioned as a significant player in the evolving landscape of sports entertainment.
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