Hoopr, a music licensing startup that positions itself as an end-to-end platform for legal, copyright-safe music usage, has raised an undisclosed amount from The Chennai Angels as part of its ongoing Pre-Series A round.
The round has already seen participation from Inflection Point Ventures and MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology).
The company said the funds will be used to scale its two-track model: Hoopr (for YouTube and Instagram creators needing copyright-safe music) and Hoopr Smash, which it calls India’s first Bollywood music licensing platform for brands and enterprises.
It also plans to invest further in technology, including a proprietary system aimed at detecting copyrighted-music violations and enabling transparent revenue sharing with artists and labels.
What Hoopr says it’s building?
At the heart of Hoopr’s pitch is a simple idea: the creator economy has expanded quickly, while music licensing for digital content still feels confusing, inconsistent, and risky for creators and brands.
Gaurav Dagaonkar, CEO and co-founder of Hoopr, said the creator ecosystem in India has seen “a 4x growth in creators over the past four years”, but music licensing remains “one of the most unregulated and opaque parts” of the market.
He also pointed to the scale of branded content creation, saying there are “over 80,000 brands and 5 lakh creators” producing branded content on social media, translating into what he described as a ₹1,500 crore opportunity.
Hoopr’s approach, the company says, is to build “infrastructure” so creators can license music legally, brands are protected, and artists are paid fairly .
Traction and catalogue: creators on one side, labels on the other
Hoopr said it serves over 4 lakh creators, naming Flying Beast, Ranveer Brar, Curly Tales, and Mr Indian Hacker among users, and works with 180+ brands including Marico, ITC, Himalaya, Myntra, and Rajasthan Royals.
On the supply side, Hoopr Smash has aggregated catalogues from 21 Indian labels including YRF and Universal Music Group, plus three international labels, which it said makes it the largest platform for licensing Bollywood and Indian music.
The company also highlighted recent ecosystem tie-ups: an Artist Accelerator programme in partnership with Universal Music Group, a deal with IPRS (Indian Performing Right Society), and a partnership with Adobe.
What The Chennai Angels said about the bet?
Srinivasan B, Investment Director at The Chennai Angels, said Dagaonkar’s background as a musician helped him spot gaps in music publishing, particularly around the emerging creator and social media marketplace and described Hoopr as his answer to those gaps. He also said the business benefits from network effects and expressed confidence in the team’s ability to scale.
The Chennai Angels described itself as one of India’s most active angel investing groups, founded in 2007, and said it has invested over INR 135 crore across 80+ startups.
About the company and earlier fundraising
Hoopr said it was launched in 2022 and has previously raised capital from 100Unicorns, 91Ventures, Ventures Catalysts and IPV . The company positions its stack as spanning music discovery, licensing, copyright detection, and artist revenue sharing.
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