Flymachine raises $21 million to develop an immersive livestreaming platform

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

San Francisco-based Flymachine has raised $21 million in an investor funding round to build an immersive livestreaming platform. 

  The round was led by Greycroft Partners and SignalFire, with additional participation from Primary Venture Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Red Sea Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Angel investors joining the round include Coran Capshaw, Bill Silva, Marty Diamond, and Larry Webman, Bay Area concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment, Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, WIRED magazine co-founding editor John Battelle, and LionTree Partners.

  Wayne Hu, Managing Director at SignalFire, commented: "In just a short amount of time, the team has built strategic partnerships with many of the most well-known venues in North America, developed the most innovative platform in the market, and created a next-generation experience for fans and artists. This was an investment we absolutely had to make."

Change the game for artists

  The funds will be used to grow Flymachine's team, expand its network of venue partners, and develop new features for its industry-leading digital events platform. The company has agreement with venues such as Bowery Ballroom in New York City, Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco, The Casbah in San Diego, The Crocodile in Seattle, Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, and Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles, among others. 

  "Virtual events have an opportunity to change the game for artists, promoters, and fans, but the technology that exists today is pretty underwhelming — videobox, paywall, and a bunch of scrolling nonsense; not exactly what one would call game-changing," said Andrew Dreskin, CEO and Co-Founder of Flymachine. "At Flymachine, we're creating something different: a digital venue of the future, an art medium, and a social meeting place. It offers a level of depth, agency and social interactivity that hadn't before existed. It's a pretty cool way to check out a show remotely." 

A new level of creative control

  Flymachine said the platform provides artists with "a new level of creative control over their digital performances that livestreaming platforms do not offer" and puts at their disposal tools and third-party integrations. "A continued area of focus will be providing live performers and production teams with access to advanced broadcast features, pre-and-post show multimedia offerings, real-time data, and crowd visualisations," said the company.

  Flymachine was co-founded by Dreskin, who co-founded Ticketfly and TicketWeb; Rick Farman, who serves as Chief Experience Officer and is the co-founder of music festivals Bonnaroo and Outside Lands; and Matthew Davis, who acts as Chief Technology Officer and is the founder of [namethemachine]. Artist management company ATC Management was also one of the founding partners.