Rivet co-founders Anj Fayemi, Simran Pabla and Saad Rahman met at MIT and in 2021 launched a fanbase management platform for artists to gain actionable insight into their fans. After growing the company and launching a beta version of its platform, Rivet recently relocated from Boston to Chicago as it looks to further develop its tech and embed itself in the Windy City’s music and entertainment scene.
Along with the move, Rivet secured a $500,000 investment from Drive Capital. The Hustle Fund and Visible Hands also contributed.
Rivet uses artificial intelligence to leverage a musician’s fan database and recommend how to best connect with their fans to grow as artists and monetize their communities. The company’s AI engine can provide suggestions on campaigns to run and content to publish, among other variables. To date, Rivet has over 1,400 active creators and musicians.
“We’re at this unique point where we understand creator preferences and the recommendations that they’re accepting as well as the fan preferences and what they’re responding well to,” Pabla, co-founder and head of product at Rivet, told Built In. “As we collect more data and as we help creators engage more, we can start understanding how to execute on the creator’s behalf and really lean into generative models.”
By moving its headquarters to Chicago, Rivet will be able to tap into the local creative industry to recruit talent for its team and bring more artists and creators onto the platform. Rivet CEO and co-founder Fayemi said one of the big draws to relocating the company was the city’s robust university ecosystem which produces diverse and top-tier tech talent. According to Rivet co-founders, keeping a diverse workforce as the company grows will be a top priority.
“The diverse backgrounds that have come together to form the team and the strong technical backgrounds to match that are rare in the market and rare in our space,” Fayemi told Built In. “That’s one of our advantages that has been really powerful for our acquisition efforts.”
Rivet also relocated to join the local tech and entertainment ecosystem, which includes tech companies like Cameo and Songfinch. These companies, among others, are innovating the creative industry and showcasing the power of Chicago’s music scene.
Over the following months, Rivet will use its recent investment to continue running the beta version of its platform before doing a full release in the summer.
“We’re really excited about tapping into the music scene out here. There’s an incredible ecosystem that we’re just scratching the surface of,” Pabla said. “It’ll be exciting to start building Rivet’s new community in the Chicago ecosystem.”
Before moving to Chicago, Rivet was highlighted in the Built In Boston Future 5 series, which features up-and-coming tech companies.
