Online Rights Firm Haawk Receives $2.5 Million

Rights management startup Haawk has raised $2.5 million in a seed financing round from four private equity firms. The Studio City company provides rights management, copyright enforcement and content monetization for music and media retailers, including YouTube, Amazon Prime Music and Spotify. Haawk received the funding from Rincon Venture Partners in Santa Barbara; Wavemaker Partners and Frontier Venture Capital, both in Santa Monica; and Apex Venture Partners in Chicago. Rincon, Wavemaker and Frontier had been in a $2 million seed funding round for Haawk in April. The company was co-founded by Ryan Born, whose previous ventures Audio Micro and Ad Rev, both in Sherman Oaks, were acquired by Zealot Networks, in Venice. Those startups also handled online rights management for music.