SAN FRANCISCO (CelebrityAccess) — Flymachine, which bills itself as a virtual venue for live entertainment, announced it has secured $21 million in new funding.
The financing round was led by the venture capital firms Greycroft Partners and SignalFire, with additional participation from Primary Venture Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Red Sea Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.
As well, a number of prominent music industry figures, including Coran Capshaw, Bill Silva, Marty Diamond, Bay Area concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment, Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons and agent Larry Webman have signed on as angel investors in the venture.
According to Flymachine, it will use the infusion of capital to fund an expansion of their team and its network of participating venue partners, as well as develop new features for the platform.
While the virtual events market became quickly populated with startups during the pandemic, Flymachine hopes to set itself apart from the pack through technology, including allowing viewers to move through virtual spaces and using proximity-based chat to try to create a sense of space for events.
Artists can leverage third-party tools and integrations to provide live performers and production teams with access to advanced broadcast features, pre-and-post show multimedia offerings, real-time data, and crowd visualizations.
“Virtual events have an opportunity to change the game for artists, promoters, and fans, but the technology that exists today is pretty underwhelming — videobox, paywall, and a bunch of scrolling nonsense; not exactly what one would call game-changing,” said Andrew Dreskin, CEO and Co-Founder of Flymachine.“ At Flymachine, we’re creating something different: a digital venue of the future, an art medium, and a social meeting place. It offers a level of depth, agency and social interactivity that hadn’t before existed. It’s a pretty cool way to check out a show remotely.”
The company, which launched in early 2021, has already hosted a diverse roster of live music performances. Upcoming shows on the platform include Aaron Frazer, K.Flay, The Black Angels, and Lion Babe. Flymachine has also been gearing up for the return of live touring by establishing a network of iconic venues to deliver hybrid IRL-virtual events to fans around the world.
Additionally, Flymachine has secured exclusive agreements with Bowery Ballroom in New York City, Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco, The Casbah in San Diego, The Crocodile in Seattle, Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, and Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles, among numerous others.
“Flymachine is live digital events on a completely different level. The social element is unparalleled, and the artist and fan engagement we’ve seen so far has been amazing. We’ve already heard great feedback from artists and their teams about the potential to connect more with their fans and bring immersive, new experiences to concerts,” said Marty Diamond, Managing Executive at Wasserman Music.
