Led by Return Investor Accel, with Continued Participation from Cervin, Astia Fund and Stagwell; HarbourVest Partners, Rich Kleiman and Kevin Durant’s 35V, and Nick Mehta Join the Round

Catch+Release, the content licensing marketplace for brands and creators, today announced it has raised an additional $8.8 million in Series A funding led by return investor Accel. This round saw continued investment from Accel, Cervin, Astia Fund and Stagwell, as well as new investors HarbourVest Partners, successful technology founder and CEO, Nick Mehta, and Rich Kleiman and Kevin Durant’s 35V. The company has raised a total of $31.3 million in funding to-date from investors who recognize the significant market opportunity to source content from anywhere on the Internet and safely license for multiple use-cases at brands and agencies.

This investment allows Catch+Release to accelerate its product features, enhance the user experience, and fuel the growth of its creator community. This marks an important milestone in the company’s mission to revolutionize how content is licensed, giving brands a competitive advantage to differentiate, win customers, and win awards.

“This capital allows us to expand our go-to-market reach, strengthen our user’s product experience and continue to grow and nurture our community of talented creators which our brands tap into every day for a wide range of marketing campaigns,” said Analisa Goodin, CEO and Founder of Catch+Release. “This is an exciting milestone for the company as well as the market and we believe that our unique and differentiated approach gives marketers both power and control to tell their stories in a unique way.”

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Brands now invest in a variety of campaigns and a wider range of channels to reach their audiences with fresh, creative approaches and fast turnaround times. In fact, 63% of consumers prefer creator-led content from brands (source). Consumers rely on social, mobile-first channels for news, entertainment and sports such as Tiktok and YouTube. Catch+Release bridges the gap between the growing demand from brands to find work by creators, by licensing beautiful, relevant content for highly creative social, and digital ad campaigns, on budget, and on time.

Goodin added, “There’s no reason why brands should continue to rely on stock libraries when they can quickly access creator-generated content that performs 5X better in real-time through our marketplace. It’s simply not worth the time, money, or risk.”

“Catch+Release is a disruptive force in the content licensing market. The marketplace delivers unique value to brand and agency customers while giving content creators equitable compensation,” said Eric Wolford, Partner at Accel. “It’s a transformative approach to licensing which de-risks any usage breaches for brands. We are excited to continue to support the team.”

Content licensing has become increasingly vital in the modern marketing landscape. Brands and agencies seek compelling content to engage their audiences effectively. Current trends indicate a growing demand for user-generated content, influencer collaborations, and real-time media, now estimated at $104 billion and more often categorized as the Creator Economy. Catch+Release addresses these needs by providing a collaborative product to discover, comment, share, and clear to license the content assets that fit the brief and the budget.

“When the team urgently needs original content that is impactful, stands out in a noisy market, and increases our customer trust, we turn to Catch+Release,” shared Casey Hurbis, Chief Marketing Officer, Rocket Mortgage & Rocket Central. “Catch+Release has been a trusted partner and relishes the ‘we’ll figure it out’ approach.”

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