What do you think of when you hear the words entertainment and media? While most of us mentally zoom in to have a good time or take a break from content eating snacks, most tech entrepreneurs have his €2 trillion lightbulb overhead. I’m here. This is what the global entertainment market expects over the next decade.
The data show a highly competitive market, but also lead to an exciting array of innovative solutions for content types, production and delivery. The average amount of time spent on digital entertainment per person is about 4.5 hours per day, and he wants it to be as personalized as possible, which leads to a lot of business opportunities for him.
Media websites, video platforms, social media, music, podcasts, games, metaverses, digital events, and travel are being transformed by technologies like AI algorithms, live streaming, VR exploration, and haptic suits to disrupt the entertainment market.
Disney, Netflix, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Roblox, Spotify, and Ubisoft are some of the industry giants. The name of the new entertainment startup revolutionizing the traditional business model is his Patreon in the US, connecting artists with their followers. US Substack is a platform for freelance creators to create newsletters with the support of their followers.
Now let’s narrow down to entertainment start-ups developing tech solutions in the media, film and arts sectors in our neck of the woods. They could join the €18bn funding round pool raised by more developed startups in this space. Tell us more names to add to this list. [email protected]
10+ entertainment startups in South East Europe
Below are startups building B2C entertainment solutions or for B2B clients looking to innovate in the entertainment market.
#1 ArtLink.app
Resolution: Romania’s ArtLink.app offers a solution for visual artists to connect with the public through AR. This allows users to participate in art exhibitions safely from home.
Founder/Year: Bogdan Topilceanu, 2020.
#2 Audiomodern
Resolution: Audiomodern is a Greek start-up that aims to create affordable software for producers, both professionals and beginners, to help them develop songs quickly and easily.
Founder/Year: Maximos Maximilianos, 2017.
#3 Ecstasy
Resolution: Romanian startup Extasy offers an event platform aimed at transforming experiences. It’s a digital marketing tool for brands to connect with their clients so they can get financing for more exotic endeavors such as plane jumps.
Founder/Year: Bogdan Buta, Sveatoslav Veaceslav Vizitiu, 2020.
#4 Film chain
Resolution: Founded in Romania, FilmChain is a fintech in the film industry. The team provides a collection account management platform and a SaaS royalty management platform to solve royalty problems for film professionals.
Founder/Year: Maria Tanjara and Irina Arbita, 2017.
#5 Giants Lab
Resolution: Romanian Giants Labs is a Web3 developer for entertainment companies, developers, blockchain specialists and other companies who need help onboarding their business to the Elrond ecosystem.
Founder/Year: Andrei Stoica, Razvan Statescu, Alexandra-Nadia Balan, 2021.
#6 Metatheum
Resolution: Founded in Romania, METASEUM is a metaverse that allows you to explore museums and galleries from the comfort of your couch, allowing collectors to build a portfolio of museum-related NFTs and gallery owners to develop new business models.
Founder/Year: Daniel Manasescu, Martijn van Schaik, 2022.
#7 Orphium
Resolution: Orfium is a music technology company founded in Greece that builds software solutions that enable music producers, businesses or publishers to track the revenue generated on various platforms such as social media.
Founder/Year: Michael Petichakis, Chris Mohorney, Drew Dellis, 2015.
#8 Ovate
Resolution: Founded in Romania, Oveit offers a Web3 cashless payment solution for event tickets. But the team also developed his Stageme.Live. This is a solution that provides live video shopping events to e-commerce players. Now, influencers can jump on social media live videos to promote their products and services, and users can click on the video and make a purchase directly. Teleshopping level up.
Founder/Year: Mihai Dragan, 2017.
#9 Quest
Resolution: Romanian Questo provides a platform where people can play games and explore cities around the world, and brands can promote their products and services.
Founder/Year: Alexander Goboreanu, 2017.
#10 Tabbook
Resolution: Romanian tabuk (or [email protected]) aims to become the world’s largest library, and the team is developing a network for sharing books among friends and like-minded people. Through the app, all collectors can index and trade their books.
Founder/Year: Florin Botha, Stéphane Vaju, Levente Sakachi, 2022.
#11 Tulip
Resolution: Romania’s TULIPR is developing a B2B marketplace that facilitates the organization of both digital and physical events. Through this platform, companies can connect with their providers of services in the event industry, such as vendors and managers.
Founder/Year: Ioana Dragomir, Larisa Burda, 2021.
12. Free Story
Resolution: Romanian Vreestory is a VR/AR studio that provides enterprise clients with XR experiences, custom-made apps, and content. They develop the product, but also create training sessions for partners to implement it for their users.
Founder/Year: Andrey Chobotal, 2017.
#13 Wooku
Resolution: Founded in Romania, WOCOO is a film social network that enables film producers and distribution teams to connect directly with audiences and unlock new revenue streams.
Founder/Year: Andrey Muntean, 2016.
#14 7arts.bg
Resolution: Bulgaria’s 7arts.bg offers a cultural streaming platform. Art lovers can see movies, operas, ballets, plays and even stand-up comedy.
Founder/Year: Adriana Petkova, Dany Damyanov, 2020.
*Names are in alphabetical order.
