Apr 10, 2023

Digital collectible marketplace LALA launches with $3M from Seven Seven Six Digital collectible marketplace LALA launches with $3M from Seven Seven Six By Riley Kaminer Have you ever watched a movie or TV show that you loved so much that you immediately wanted to do anything you could do to be part of it? A new Miami-based startup is enabling fans to forge deeper connections – and actually own a piece of their revenue streams. Founded in 2022, LALA is building the world’s first digital collectible marketplace. To make this vision come to life, last week LALA announced that they secured a $3 million seed round from Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six. CEO and founder Hiram Vazquez has been active in the Miami tech space since 2015, when he moved to Miami to help launch Uber Pool. After stints in other local startups, Vazquez eventually landed at Seven Seven Six. At the VC, Vazquez was part of its inaugural Operator in Residence program, where he built and managed the firm’s proprietary software, Cerebro. The origins of LALA stem from Vazquez’s and Ohanian’s shared love for collectables. Compared to the world of sports for example, movies and TV shows are “known in the industry for being very insular,” Vazquez told Refresh Miami. That is what led the duo to start workshopping solutions for getting die-hard fans more deeply ingrained in their shows’ ecosystems. Through LALA, fans can find collectibles and become fractional owners of their favorite movies or TV shows. That provides these fans with a percentage of revenue from things like ticket sales, licensing fees from streaming services, merch sales and more. The fans also get limited-edition art, merch, and content from their favorite programs. On the flip side, Vazquez said that LALA will help movies and TV shows future-proof their IP. “Whenever you give ownership to someone, they’ll care more about it, they’ll talk more about it. They’re going to pay more attention and make their friends watch it. So it’s creating advocates.” That’s important because it turns their IP into something closer to a brand loyalty program, where fans continue to be engaged over time – not just when a new season of a show airs. In an age where we are likely to see, in Vazquez’s words, a “tsunami” of content generated with the help of AI, this more meaningful connection between fans and IP owners will become more important than ever. Currently, LALA has a full-time team of four, plus six additional part-time team members. For now, Vazquez and team are focused on launching the platform – hopefully within the next few weeks – and scaling their pipeline of IP. “To say I’m excited for LALA to launch is an understatement. Now is the time to build a new fan experience, and no one is doing it quite like Hiram,” Ohanian shared in a statement. “First of all, it feels good to own a piece of your favorite movie or TV show, regardless of the dollar amount, and secondly, LALA’s providing a real utility here, granting new access to our favorite stories.” “In this broader bear market, it’s no longer a gambler’s or get-rich-quick mindset, and that’s a good thing for serious companies building for the long term,” Ohanian continued. “By creating opportunities for deeper connections and immersive experiences for the fan community, LALA is far more valuable, more effective, and more compelling than anything out there today.” Despite LALA having been conceived in the boom market, Vazquez believes that the bear won’t hold the company back. “Right now, there’s a great opportunity for people that are looking to build a long-term business to do great. Fans are being underserved for now, and there’s a huge opportunity for us to build something in that space.” READ MORE ON REFRESH MIAMI: