Music Licensing Startup Hoopr Secures Funding from The Chennai Angels in its Pre-Series A Round
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
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.
