Photo Credit: YOOM
YOOM raises $15 million in a star-studded round of investment from the likes of Finneas and Jimmy Iovine.
YOOM, founded in 2016 by Dr. Miky Tamir and Micha Birnboim and known initially as Tetavi, has raised $15 million from its star-studded investor list. Among the investors was Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics; Grammy Award-winning producer-singer-songwriter Finneas; CEO of The SpringHill Company, Maverick Carter; CEO of the Darkroom, Justin Lubliner; and Paul Wachter, founder and CEO of Main Street Advisors.
The company’s volumetric technology enables the creation of photorealistic digital content in web3 for the Metaverse. To date, YOOM has raised $50 million and employs 70 people between its headquarters in Tel Aviv and offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo.
YOOM also announced its first non-founder chairman: Aaron Stone, former senior partner and head of Media, Entertainment, and Communications. Stone is also the current advisor to Apollo Global Management and was a seed investor in YOOM, partnering with the company’s founders and senior executives to help develop the organization’s structure.
“We are at the inception of a period in which new technologies will revolutionize the way we create and experience content, and interact socially,” says Stone. “YOOM will partner with artists to create content that can engender enhanced feelings of presence, enabling new and different ways for people to emotionally engage and connect.”
“I am always looking for new possibilities that advance entertainment and move the culture forward,” adds Jimmy Iovine. “YOOM is going to bring artists and brands into the Metaverse and Web3, and that feels really exciting. This team and the proprietary technology they’ve built levels the playing field for creatives and widens the space where communities can grow. I’m inspired to help define what the future of entertainment can look like.”
YOOM partnered with the Los Angeles Kings earlier this year, making them the first NHL team to enter the Metaverse. The company hopes to soon introduce its first major projects in music, gaming, television, and location-based entertainment.