The Raine Group

We are pleased to announce that Orfium, the global technology company specializing in digital music rights monitoring and royalty claiming, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Soundmouse by Orfium to Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). Soundmouse is a global leader in music cue sheet reporting and monitoring for the broadcast and entertainment production industries. It uses cutting edge technology, including AI, to simplify and automate the creation of cue sheets, which report musical elements included in films, TV shows, commercials, video games, and other projects, delivering increased revenue and visibility for songwriters, composers and publishers worldwide. BMI is expected to combine its expertise in domestic and international cue sheet generation with that of Soundmouse to create the largest and most comprehensive cue sheet database in the global audiovisual marketplace. Raine served as exclusive financial advisor to Orfium on the transaction. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Raine is pleased to have served as Financial Advisor to Providence Equity Partners on the investment in CloserStill Media from Searchlight Capital Partners. Searchlight and Providence will have co-control of CloserStill.    Founded in 2008 and headquartered in London, CloserStill operates a market-leading portfolio of must-attend, award-winning B2B events across four high growth sectors: technology, healthcare, learning and HR, and future transport and infrastructure. Its flagship events include Ai4, the global Tech Show portfolio, the London Vet Show, Data Centre World, PTE World, Learning Technologies, and The Dentistry Show.     Searchlight’s investment will help drive CloserStill’s continued expansion across three key areas: (i) further consolidation of the fragmented global events market through targeted bolt-on acquisitions; (ii) the launch of new events in adjacent high growth sectors; and (iii) continued investment in the Company’s digital and sales platforms to deepen year-round customer engagement.   This transaction highlights Raine’s role as a leading advisor in the media and entertainment sector across EMEA, marking one of the largest private equity deals in the events sector over the past decade.    Click here to read more: https://bit.ly/4dnIjX0

Raine is pleased to partner with AfterQuery as we explore and implement practical applications of AI across our platform. The team’s ability to encode domain-specific excellence and create specialized enterprise AI solutions helps lay the foundation for next-generation systems that better understand our business and enhance the impact of our work. We are working with AfterQuery to turn our vast institutional knowledge into structured, searchable intelligence across our firm with a new tool tailor-made to complement our existing workflows. Raine Search makes the collective expertise of our global teams digestible and easily accessible, powering efficiency and creating more time to focus on delivering differentiated services to our clients. For more information about our partnership, please visit: https://bit.ly/4dbNDwx

We are pleased to share that Rounak Chandak has rejoined Raine as a Managing Director.    Rounak brings over 12 years of experience advising on M&A and private capital raises across the TMT, consumer and consumer internet sectors. His track record includes marquee transactions such as the $8.5 billion combination of Disney’s India business with Reliance’s media business, as well as fundraises for a number of high-growth companies.   Welcome back to Raine, Rounak! 

We are excited to share that Raine participated in a $30 million Series A fundraising round for AfterQuery, a leading applied data solutions research lab.   Congratulations to Spencer Mateega, AfterQuery CEO and Co-Founder, and the entire AfterQuery team - we look forward to partnering with you on this next chapter!   Click here to read more: http://bit.ly/3OrOWxW

We are pleased to announce that WME Group has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 160over90 to Publicis Groupe.   160over90 is a premier global sports and culture-first marketing agency that helps brands connect with audiences across sports, entertainment, music, fashion, and experiential activations.    Publicis Groupe is acquiring 160over90 to serve as the cornerstone of Publicis Sports, an end-to-end platform that drives measurable business outcomes by connecting brands to fans and audiences through technology, data, and global reach across sport and culture.   Alongside the transaction, Publicis Groupe will enter into a strategic partnership with WME Group, enabling early-stage collaboration across talent, IP, and brand partnerships.   Raine served as exclusive financial advisor to WME Group on the transaction. Congratulations to everyone involved.    Click here to read more: https://bit.ly/41NSM7q  

Last week, Yelena (Yingqi) Yao, Vice President at Raine, was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the Micro Drama Ecosystem Conference in Hangzhou, China on the topic of global expansion of micro drama. The conference brought together platforms, producers, investors, and ecosystem partners across the industry, including representatives from leading global and Chinese micro drama platforms as well as AI content production companies. In her session, Yelena shared her latest on-the-ground perspectives on the global micro drama market, including how global sentiment toward the category has been evolving, what Hollywood and global media players are doing today, the key challenges still facing the globalization of micro drama, and what strategic and financial partners are looking for.

This past week, Deborah Mei and Avidha Chakrabarti represented Raine in Hong Kong for the 2025 FinanceAsia Awards. Raine was honored with the Best APAC and India M&A Deal award for its role in the merger of the Indian media assets of The Walt Disney Company and Reliance Industries. Raine acted as the lead financial advisor to The Walt Disney Company. This recognition underscores the strength of our global media advisory franchise and highlights Raine’s strong cross-border capabilities. Congratulations to the India team and our global franchise for this remarkable achievement.

Earlier this week, Raine Managing Director Jessica Payne moderated a panel at MWC Barcelona, an international conference focused on the mobile, communications, and connectivity ecosystems. The panel's theme was "Data, Compute, Energy: The Power Equation of the AI Era" and featured an insightful conversation with panelists from Arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Viettel Group that explored where data, compute, and energy intersect and the implications for telcos and the broader ecosystem.

We are pleased to announce that Stay22 has secured a $122 million minority growth investment led by Summit Partners.   Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Montreal, Stay22 is a global leader in travel-focused content monetization. The company empowers publishers, creators, and event platforms to capture high-intent travel demand through intelligent link optimization, AI-powered affiliate solutions, and seamless integrations with leading travel partners. Stay22 operates at the intersection of content, commerce, and travel, helping its partners unlock incremental revenue while enhancing the user experience.   Summit Partners’ investment will support Stay22’s continued product innovation and global expansion as it scales its platform to serve creators and travel partners worldwide.   Raine served as exclusive financial advisor to Stay22 on the transaction.   Congratulations to all involved!   Click here to read more: https://bit.ly/4r881m9