Whip Media

What Whip Media does

Whip Media is a Santa Monica-based enterprise SaaS company founded in 2014 that provides an AI-native platform for managing the global TV and film content licensing supply chain. Operating under the legal entity Whip Networks, Inc., the company serves more than 75 of the world's top media and entertainment organizations, including all major Hollywood studios (Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM), leading streamers (HBO, Pluto TV, Plex, Magenta), broadcasters (BBC, ITV Studios, Foxtel, PBS Distribution), telecom-media groups (Liberty Global, Vodafone, Altice, T-Mobile, Frontier, Elisa), and consumer brands (Vevo, Vizio, Hallmark, Smithsonian Channel). Its modular platform spans two functional pillars: Supply Chain Modules for licensees (Avails Management, Contract Management, Title Management, Asset Order Management) and Distribution Modules for licensors (Avails Distribution, Performance & Revenue Tracking, Revenue Management, Partner Payments), with a unified Royalties module. In April 2025 the company launched Helix, a ground-up AI-native rebuild featuring purpose-built machine learning models, agentic AI workflows using supervised and reinforcement learning, NLP for legal contract interpretation, predictive analytics, and anomaly detection—replacing prior-generation offerings with a single intelligence layer across rights, royalties, and supply chain orchestration.

The underlying technology architecture uses purpose-built ML models that drive intelligent agents operating within an orchestration framework, with strict per-client data isolation while applying universal learnings across datasets. The company has maintained SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II certification for six consecutive years, evaluated against 50+ control activities across 10 operational and IT domains. Whip Media generates revenue through multi-year enterprise SaaS subscriptions with modular, quote-based pricing sold via a direct enterprise field sales motion, supported by content marketing, industry events (NAB Show, MIP London, CES, StreamTV Show, DEG EnTech Fest), and a monthly WhipWrap newsletter. The company has raised approximately $115 million in total disclosed funding across four rounds (2014-2020), with institutional backers including Eminence Capital, IVP, Raine Ventures, Greycroft, and WME. Notable acquisitions include Mediamorph and TheTVDB.com in October 2019. As of 2025, leadership includes CEO Welby Chen (appointed February 2025), CFO Neeraj Sethi, CTO Chase Cabanillas, CMO Jerry Inman, and Board Member Brian Lakamp, signaling both a product transformation and potential public-market readiness.

Name

Whip Media

Legal name

Whip Networks, Inc.

Website

https://whipmedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Whip Media provides an AI-native enterprise SaaS platform (Helix) that automates TV and film content licensing, rights management, and royalties for 75+ top global media companies, including all major Hollywood studios, streamers, broadcasters, and telecom-media groups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Media and Entertainment Content Operations Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)

akta.pro primary industry

Usage Reporting, Reconciliation & Royalty Accounting (Statements, Audits) (MPAHALAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Content Syndication, Distribution & Rights Management Platforms (BPAMAJAN), Rights Clearance & Chain-of-Title (Talent/Music/Clip Clearances) (MPAHALAC)

Keywords

• Content licensing software
• Royalty management platform
• Media supply chain
• Rights management system
• Avails aggregation software

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Monica

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscriptions: Whip Media operates as a SaaS company providing subscription-based access to its Helix platform. The platform offers modular functionality including avails management, contract management, title management, asset order management, royalties, and performance tracking. Pricing is modular by capability, with customers able to start with priority modules and expand as needed. The company serves enterprise clients across studios, streamers, broadcasters, and content distributors on multi-year contractual terms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Whip Media sells the Helix platform, an AI-native SaaS solution that orchestrates the global content supply chain for media and entertainment companies. The platform provides modular capabilities spanning avails aggregation, contract management, title metadata enrichment, royalty calculation and partner payments, asset order management, and performance tracking, enabling studios, streamers, broadcasters, and distributors to manage rights, content licensing, and revenue operations on a unified system.

Product overview

Whip Media offers a unified AI-native SaaS platform called Helix that transforms the business of content from rights to royalties. The platform consists of two main module groups: Supply Chain Modules for licensees (Avails Management, Contract Management, Title Management, Asset Order Management) and Distribution Modules for licensors (Avails Distribution, Performance & Revenue Tracking, Revenue Management, Partner Payments). Additional capabilities include Royalties management. The platform is built on a modular, composable architecture with AI-powered automation, predictive analytics, and natural language interfaces at its core, enabling studios, streamers, and distributors to streamline content operations, improve operational efficiency, and enable profitable decision-making at scale.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Helix Platform AI-native SaaS platform that transforms the business of content from rights to royalties. Helix orchestrates systems, data, teams, and partners across the content supply chain, enabling studios, distributors, and streamers to operate faster, smarter, and at scale.
• Helix Supply Chain Modules AI-powered platform module suite for content licensees that streamlines avails management, content licensing, and royalties through automation. Includes Avails Management, Contract Management, Title Management, Asset Order Management, and VOD Programming and Scheduling components for studios, streamers, and platforms acquiring content.
• Helix Distribution Modules AI-powered platform module suite for content licensors that enhances content distribution, performance tracking, and financial workflows. Includes Avails Distribution, Performance and Revenue Tracking, Revenue Management, and Partner Payments components for studios and distributors licensing content.
• Avails Management AI-powered avails aggregation module that centralizes and validates incoming avails from any partner, streamlining content selection, enriching discoverability, and accelerating licensing decisions with automated ingestion and metadata cleanup for streaming platforms and content buyers.
• Contract Management AI-powered contract management module providing a system of record for managing partner contracts including rights, financial terms, and the full contract lifecycle. Features AI-powered contract ingest and summarization with automated extraction of rights and financial terms for media and entertainment companies.
• Title Management AI-powered title metadata management module that enriches, standardizes, and automates title metadata across the content supply chain. Replaces scattered spreadsheets with centralized metadata control, automated data enrichment, deduplication, and third-party metadata, artwork, trailer, and synopsis integration for media companies.
• Royalties AI-native rights, revenue, and royalty intelligence module for the global content supply chain that unifies rights, automates royalty calculations, eliminates manual reconciliations, and unlocks revenue opportunities across territories, windows, and platforms. Handles complex multi-party waterfalls including splits, fees, recoupments, minimum guarantees, advances, offsets, and deductions.
• Asset Order Management Asset ordering workflow management module that helps media teams manage, track, and fulfill asset orders without relying on email chains or spreadsheets. Provides end-to-end asset order tracking with component-level visibility and duplicate detection for media companies.

Quantifiable outcome

• 40-60% faster deal cycles for content acquisition and programming
• +11 more outcomes

Named customers31 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/whipmediagroup
• Xx.com/Whip_Media

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Whip Media