Circulate

What Circulate does

Circulate is a Dublin-based creative and digital marketing agency founded in 2016 (firmographic record notes 2014) and operating across two divisions: Music and Brand. The Music division serves electronic music artists, record labels (including Universal, Sony, Warner, and Polydor/EMI), and festival promoters with services spanning social media management, digital advertising, content production, live streaming, and Web3 strategy. The Brand division serves consumer-facing companies across food & beverage (White Claw, Jägermeister, Heineken 0.0, Kopparberg, Strong Roots, Four Loko, West Cork Whiskey, Master of Mixes), retail (Ambr Eyewear, Golden Discs), and publishing (Gill Books), with a stated emphasis on cultural relevance and music-led storytelling.

The company's service stack includes Creative, Digital Advertising, Digital Strategy, Live Streaming, Partner Network (influencer/creator matchmaking), Podcasting, Social Media Management, Training + Consultancy, and Web3 Navigation. Beyond pure services, Circulate has built two proprietary media assets — Circoloco Radio (a weekly radio program with 838,571 monthly listeners across 24 stations in 50+ territories) and Monday Dreamin (a video series reaching over 10 million Facebook users) — giving it recurring distribution channels that most agencies of its size lack. The firm is positioned as culturally embedded in DJ and nightlife scenes, with founder David De Valera anchoring the brand.

Commercially, Circulate operates as a sales-led professional services agency with no disclosed pricing tiers and no public revenue figures. It acquires clients through direct relationships, referrals, and industry connections across both the music industry and consumer brand sectors. The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding, parent company, or M&A activity, and serves clients globally despite a single headquarters in Dublin's Portobello district.

Name

Circulate

Legal name

Circulate

Website

https://circulateonline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Circulate is a Dublin-based creative and digital marketing agency serving music industry clients (artists, major labels, festivals) and consumer brands (beverages, retail, publishing) with strategy, content, live streaming, social media management, and proprietary media products including Circoloco Radio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Dublin

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Circulate generates revenue through professional services fees for creative, digital advertising, digital strategy, social media management, live streaming, and consulting services. Services are provided to music industry clients (artists, labels, festivals) and brand clients (food & beverage, consumer goods, publishing, retail).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Circulate is a Dublin-based digital marketing and cultural agency that delivers creative, digital advertising, digital strategy, social media management, live streaming, and cultural production services to music industry clients (artists, labels, festivals) and consumer brand clients. The agency operates at the intersection of DJ/music culture and brand storytelling, producing cultural content such as Circoloco Radio and Monday Dreamin alongside its client services.

Product overview

Circulate is a Dublin-based digital marketing and cultural agency born from DJ culture, operating across two divisions: Brand and Music. The company offers a unified suite of service offerings including Creative, Digital Advertising, Digital Strategy, Live Streaming, Partner Network, Podcasting, Social Media Management, and Training + Consultancy. Additionally, the company has developed proprietary media products including Circoloco Radio (a weekly radio program with 838,571 monthly listeners) and Monday Dreamin (a video series). The Music division specifically also includes Web3 Navigation services. The services are delivered as a integrated offering rather than modular products, combining cultural insight with data-driven strategy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Creative

Quantifiable outcome

• Music clients sold over 1.2 million tickets
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Spike ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister company and official management for Mochakk. Circulate works alongside Spike Management to develop Mochakk's worldwide artist presence, digital strategy, and social media management.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• TBWA\Worldwide: Global advertising network with a strong creative product and entertainment practice. TBWA competes with Circulate for major brand assignments and offers the integrated media buying Circulate cannot match at scale.
• Ogilvy: One of the largest global advertising and PR networks. Ogilvy competes for enterprise brand-client retainers that Circulate also targets, offering significantly greater scale and geographic reach.
• BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty): Long-standing independent creative agency with strong entertainment and music category work. BBH sits in the same competitive set as Circulate for cultural marketing briefs but with a larger global footprint.
• Droga5 (Accenture Song): Award-winning global creative agency within Accenture Song. Droga5 competes with Circulate for brand-side digital and cultural briefs but at significantly greater scale and resource depth.
• Wieden+Kennedy: Iconic independent creative network with deep entertainment and youth-culture credentials. W+K competes for the same kind of culturally driven brand assignments that Circulate targets.
• Dentsu Creative: Global creative network within Dentsu, with significant entertainment and cultural marketing capabilities. Dentsu Creative competes for the same large brand-mandate RFPs Circulate targets.
• Havas Creative: Global creative and media network with a strong entertainment and culture practice. Havas competes with Circulate on integrated brand and music marketing engagements, especially for beverage and lifestyle clients.

Emerging players

• UnitedMasters: Music distribution and artist services platform that bundles marketing, brand partnerships, and audience development for independent artists. UnitedMasters overlaps with Circulate on the music-marketing and brand-partnership work that anchors the Music division.

Direct peers

• Anomaly: Independent creative agency known for brand-building work and entertainment-adjacent clients. Like Circulate, it competes on cultural insight and integrated creative plus media execution, operating outside the holding-company model.
• Mother: Independent, culturally-led creative ad agency of comparable boutique scale with a similar mix of brand and entertainment clients. Mother is the most direct structural peer to Circulate's positioning as a culturally credible alternative to network agencies.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Circulate