59 START-UP ALLEY MTonomy
RIGHTS OF MAN Arjun Mendh (below) hopes MTonomy will open up a new revenue stream for film and TV rights holders
MTONOMY
COUNTRY: US STARTED: 2018
Backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, MTonomy wants to become both a blockchain version of Netflix and the go- to operating system for film and TV rights holders. It was founded by musician and computer science engineer Arjun Mendh, following his research project at MIT on the value chain of the media industry, exploring how new technologies assist growth. “What struck me was the dependency on paper contracts, the complex flows of money and the length of the rights and deal-making processes – which restrict the speed at which industry can grow further,” says Mendh. The MTonomy system – built on public blockchain platform Ethereum – claims to enable easy deal tracking, intuitive search for available rights and the secure hosting of content to enable the rapid delivery and management of assets. The company announced its first rights management partnership with Indie Rights – which manages rights for hundreds of film and TV titles – at the Cannes Film Festival. The company claims that its turnaround time on contracts has gone from days of sifting through spreadsheets and contracts to just a few seconds of tapping out a search. Earlier this year, MTonomy also launched a crypto currency-based
VOD application for consumers. The engine, which runs on the company’s decentralised ledger technology, claims to be able to discern which rights holders and stakeholders should be paid and how much – and delivers these revenues in roughly 14 seconds. This is good news for smaller independent filmmakers, points out Mendh, and perhaps one of the reasons why digital media management and licensing company Bitmax inked a partnership with the start-up last month. The deal will help expand MTonomy’s programme offering with Bitmax’s largely non-studio content, which includes movies, TV series and documentary titles. Bitmax chief revenue officer, Jim Riley, believes that the start-up has created a “best-of-its-kind online platform” which has opened up “a new audience of millions, bringing its filmmakers a new documentaries, such as Us and the Game Industry are likely to appeal to its target users. While some might view launching a VOD service for the crypto-savvy as restrictive, Mendh sees it as the platform’s USP. “There’s not much you can buy with crypto, but users believe it’s a better way and innovative revenue stream”. The content isn’t exclusive to the MTonomy platform, although
to transact because it gives more control,” he says. “Our application gives crypto users a low-friction way of watching films.” The platform is available in over 160 countries and Mendh remains unphased about the scalabity issues that have plagued Ethereum-based blockchain ventures such as CryptoKitties. “We’re not married to any particular blockchain – we’ve built our own protocol, which is open to newer technologies that may be intrinsically more scalable,“ he says. Essentially, the company is ready to switch to a different blockchain or ledger technology if and when they need to. The start-up comprises a small team of MIT alumni that work out of Cambridge Innovation Centre in Boston, operating on a seed fund of more than a million dollars it raised last year. Mendh first met MTonomy investor Jack Dorsey back in 2012 and doesn’t take the Twitter founder’s support for granted. “He has committed to us, both as an investor and adviser, and has really taken an interest in what the platform could potentially become,” he says.
JACK DORSEY HAS COMMITTED TO US AS AN INVESTOR AND ADVISER AND HAS TAKEN AN INTEREST IN WHAT THE PLATFORMCOULD BECOME
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