Estonian VC Yolo Investments backed a US art streaming service Loupe

Estonian venture capital firm Yolo Investments backed a US art streaming service Loupe. The total amount of the seed round, which US ALIAVIA Ventures led, was $3M. US-based venture capital firms Sound Media Ventures, CityRock Venture Partners, Goal Ventures, Phoenix Capital Ventures, and Atlanta Technology Angels also participated in the deal.

Dot Bustelo founded the startup in 2016 in Atlanta (US). The company offers visual art streaming services on Smart TVs and Digital Signage. The Loupe application can be downloaded and streamed on Apple TV, Google TV, Samsung TV Plus, LG Content Store, Android TV, ViX (TelevisaUnivision), Xfinity, and others in more than 70 countries. There are more than 700 artists registered on the platform. The users can select from over 50 customizable art-streaming channels featuring mood, cultural and seasonal themes, and the algorithmically driven stream by color playlists. 

The platform uses digital assets and user-generated preferences and displays fine art painting, award-winning photography, street and digital art, NFT, and motion art. The art streams are paired with synchronized music. Recently, Loupe launched an application for businesses (hospitality, healthcare) to stream artworks, and also schedule and manage them by location zone, throughout the day and week.

The platform allows artists to sell and customers to purchase original artworks and fine art reproductions, which were displayed during art streamings. 

The company will direct the investments to secure lead generation around branded content and consumer awareness, as well as expand its streaming partnerships with major media and hospitality companies in 2023.

Yolo Investments is a venture capital focused on seed- and A-stage investment across gaming and fintech. The company was launched in Estonia by Tim Heath in 2017. Tim Heath specializes in the iGaming industry. He is also a founder and a Board Member of the Yolo Group, which operates gaming brands such as bitcasino.io and sportsbet.io.