The round saw continued investment from Accel, Cervin and Stagwell, as well as new investors HarbourVest Partners in addition to successful technology founder and CEO, Nick Mehta, and professional basketball player and entrepreneur Kevin Durant.
Catch&Release brings authenticity to brands, helping them create unique campaigns using found content, or content that already exists on the internet, uploaded by creators, while giving those creators equitable compensation for their work. Using proprietary tools, Catch&Release identifies the “licensability” of found content through its web extension, does the work to secure necessary rights while tracking clearance approvals in real-time, and gives customers a place to discover, curate, and collaborate through its cloud-based platform.
The new round of funding will allow Catch+Release to accelerate its product features, enhance the user experience, and fuel the growth of its creator community.
Why we invested
Our journey with Catch+Release started in 2017. We were very impressed by the founder & CEO, Analisa Goodin, with years of experience in production and advertising and a drive to make Catch+Release an industry leader, she embodies Disciplined Entrepreneurship.
We also saw a huge opportunity to disrupt the commercial stock image and footage space. For years, it has been dominated by giants like Getty Images and Shutterstock. However, stock photos and staged photoshoots no longer resonate with consumers the way they once did. More than ever, people want authenticity and individuality. Current trends indicate a growing demand for user-generated content, influencer collaborations, and real-time media. In fact, 63% of consumers prefer creator-led content from brands. That's where Catch+Release comes in.
There are 207 million content creators worldwide and 750 billion images on the internet and now Catch+Release puts them at their customer’s fingertips, giving marketers both power and control to tell their stories in a unique way, while staying on time and on budget. This new funding milestone is an important step in the company's mission to “be the licensing layer of the internet”.
We are fortunate to be an early investor and look forward to what the future holds for Catch+Release.
