The Avvay Team: Nick Dominguez (CXO), Mike Johnson (Lead Engineer), Addison Bean (Jr Engineer), Liza Kawaller (Business Development), Josh Colbert (CTO), Jon Howard (CEO), Nick de Partee (CCO) (photo: Monique Villa)
Nashville-based start-up Avvay has managed to secure a new $1 million seed round of funding. And you can thank the band Paramore for birthing the idea.
The new start-up helps content creators find and book locations for their events, similar Airbnb’s short-term rentals. Zero G Capital, based in Denver, led the seed round, with Matchstick Ventures, SpringTime Ventures and Service Provider Capital participating.
Avvay provides an online marketplace where content creators can view spaces that are suitable for a wide variety of activities. Recording sessions, workshops, performances, and photo and video shoots can connect with local property owners to find hidden gems for their creative production.
While the company’s main headquarters are in Nashville, the Avvay marketplace is live for Portland, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston, with more cities coming soon. The company was founded in 2016 after co-founder Jon Howard, who was producing a solo album for Paramore at the time, found it hard to find suitable locations for each city.
“I was making a solo record for Paramore’s drummer at that time — and the plan was to find interesting locations in each city we went,” Howard shared. “Unless I was knocking on doors or knew someone, there was no way to access these places. Avvay was born out of trying to solve these problems for ourselves.”
Howard and other co-founders spent three months in Colorado with TechStars, a mentoring program designed to help new start-up ideas succeed. After returning to Nashville in May, Howard and his team dedicated their time to raising the first round of seed funding to continue the company’s growth.
This new seed funding initiative will allow Avvay to expand its presence to new markets by the end of 2018. The company is also aiming to address other issues that content creators may face during the creative process. Howard says he and his team are looking forward to expanding and creating more tech jobs in the heart of Tennessee.