Hook Announces $3 Million Seed Investment Round Led By Point72 Ventures and Waverley Capital

12 October 2023 - Press release

Hook, the music expression platform that harnesses the power of AI to empower anyone to remix and remake their favorite songs, announced today that it has closed a $3 Million Seed investment round led by Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures and Waverley Capital, co-founded by former Warner Music Group CEO, Edgar Bronfman, Jr.  Other participants in the funding round include Mark Gillespie’s Three Six Zero and Avex, Japan’s leading entertainment brand.  

The investment will fuel the continued development of Hook’s innovative music platform, which provides intuitive AI-powered music effects to enable music fans on social media to remix their favorite songs quickly, easily and legally and share them with the world. In addition, Hook will collaborate with artists and record labels to develop technology that will unlock new revenue streams for the entire ecosystem. Hook, which is planning to launch a closed beta later this year, is led by Founder and CEO Gaurav Sharma, who previously served as Chief Operating Officer for JioSaavn, India’s largest music streaming platform. The start-up’s experienced leadership team includes Chief Product Officer Simmi Singh, who has launched and scaled consumer and creator products at Spotify and JioSaavn, and Chief Financial Officer Manav Choksi, who has helped startups raise over a quarter-billion dollars from notable VCs like a16z. 

"Fan-created remixes on social media are helping drive music discovery, re-discovery and virality -- but the way it's happening doesn't support rights holders," said Gaurav Sharma. "Hook solves this problem by leveraging AI to let social media users express themselves creatively with music, while rewarding artists and rights holders at the same time. 

We’re humbled by Point72 Ventures, Edgar and the entire Waverley team, and the incredible group of music industry investors that have chosen to support us. Recently there’s been a lot of discussion around AI’s role within the music industry. We’re proud to say that we’re built by the industry and supported by the industry.”

“We think the music industry is uniquely positioned to leverage cutting-edge technology such as generative AI," said Ishan Sinha, Principal at Point72 Ventures. “Yet, it’s essential to establish safeguards for artists, producers, and record labels. We believe the team at Hook is well positioned to merge innovation with prioritizing industry stakeholders. We are thrilled to join them on this journey forward.” 

Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Co-Founder, Chairman and General Partner of Waverley Capital commented: "Hook gives music fans the ability to put their own stamp on their favorite songs, it empowers artists to grow their audience and gives labels and other rights holders an avenue to a brand new stream of revenue."