city Venture: Celebs Rumors

Pop music sounds more homogenous and inoffensive than ever before. Venture capital hoovers up publishing rights and record labels lean hard on TikTok trends, desperate to build as many data points as possible for a song that sells.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent SRMG Ventures, the venture capital arm of Ryadh-based conglomerate Saudi Research and Media Group, has announced a small but significant $5 million investment in Anghami, which is the Arab world’s rival to Spotify. SRMG Ventures in a statement said that, besides the investment, it will be providing the Middle East music and entertainment streamer its “extensive media reach, content library and portfolio of leading assets in audio/podcasts.” It claims this will enable Anghami to snag a larger share of the fast-growing music streaming sector expected to “reach $700 million in the Middle East and North Africa in 2026.” As part of the agreement, SRMG will be invited to join Anghami’s board of directors and will have the option to increase its investment in the music streaming service going forward.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAuckland, New Zealand-based financier Hillfarrance Venture Capital is backing a team of former Weta Digital staff in their new VFX venture Wellington-based Floating Rock Studios. Founded in 2020 by Laurent Herveic, Lukas Niklaus, Stephanie Parker and Garrick Rawlingson, Floating Rock Studios bills itself as a high-end animation and VFX provider for movies, commercials and video game cinematics.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentBTF Media, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s fastest-growing production houses, has unveiled a BTF Acceleration prize initiative worth up to a collective $500,000 for five projects at this week’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment, the Europe-America TV co-production forum. BTF Acceleration seeks to promote emerging talent, opening up opportunities within the audiovisual industry, incubating creators and accelerating projects, BTF Media announced via the organisation of Conecta Fiction on Wednesday. The initiative forms part of BTF Corporate Venture Capital, a private capital investment fund promoted by the company. BTF Media will become a strategic ally accompanying the projects’ realization, it added, saying that the maximum endowment provided for this fund is $500,000.

husband of RHONY Aviva and cousin of Fran Drescher, star of “The Nanny.”Reid Drescher claimed to have access to gobs of cash to invest in Los Angeles-based marijuana grower P&S Ventures LLC, according to P&S’s suit, filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.“Drescher bragged that he was a cousin of Fran Drescher, who played The Nanny in the television series of that name, and that his wife, Aviva Drescher, was on Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York, claiming to have many celebrity contacts as a result,” the suit said.Aviva Drescher — famous for throwing her prosthetic leg at another housewife onscreen — was cut from the hit show in 2014. Believing his “numerous materially false representations,” P&S agreed to accept a $5.4 million investment from Drescher’s fund in exchange for stock.But Reid Drescher was soon “forced” to admit that his fund didn’t have the promised money, the suit said.The fund had raised just $1 million of a planned $120 million as of 2019, according to its most recent securities filing.Gateway ultimately only kicked $1.35 million into P&S.

Wonder Dynamics, a startup founded by Ready Player One star Tye Sheridan and VFX expert Nikola Todorovic, that aims to lower the cost and level the playing field for visual effects, raised $9 million in a Series A funding round that included Epic Games and Samsung as investors.

UTA is bulking up its venture funding business. The agency has hired veteran investment executive Clinton Foy as general partner, Venture Capital at UTA Ventures, which builds and invests in businesses at the intersection of media, entertainment, and technology.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterLongtime venture investment executive, esports investor and former Square Enix COO Clinton Foy has joined UTA as a general partner in its venture capital division, where he will be tasked with growing and developing the company’s investment platforms, from direct investing to venture capital investments to fund development.“Clinton’s deep background in the venture capital community and proven track record of raising and investing capital for funds and startups across entertainment and tech makes him a strong fit for UTA’s entrepreneurial DNA,” said UTA chief executive officer Jeremy Zimmer.

Veteran investor Clinton Foy is joining UTA Ventures in the role of General Partner, Venture Capital.

EXCLUSIVE: A round of seed funding has been completed by Wonder Dynamics, the AI-driven visual effects venture hatched by VFX artist Nikola Todorovic and Ready Player One star Tye Sheridan to democratize the visual effects process using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to develop production tools for filmmakers to produce VFX and CG elements faster and at a significantly lower price point.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese regulators have approved a deal for Alibaba’s investment arm to buy 5.26% of Mango Excellent Media for $946 million (RMB6.2 billion), tying together two of the country’s top online video platforms at a time when the battle for local streaming supremacy is ramping up.Alibaba owns Youku, China’s number three streaming platform, while TV producer Mango Excellent — which has ties to the influential state-run TV network Hunan Broadcasting System — owns the immensely popular Mango TV service.

© Getty Getty Lady Gaga has branded Michael Polansky as the "love of her life".