Edge Investments (Edge), a specialist investment house focused on the creative industries sector, in particular media and entertainment, has taken a minority stake in Dial Square 86 Ltd, the holding company for The RightsXchange Ltd (TRX).
TRX is an online deal-making platform for TV rights licensing. It enables TV programme buyers to search for content, access instant rights availabilities, negotiate a deal and sign the contract entirely online. Presently transactions in this market happen offline and person-to-person, leading to long deal times and operational inefficiencies. TRX is bringing established marketplace technology to the global secondary TV rights export market, estimated to be worth in excess of $5bn per annum
Founded by TV rights entrepreneurs David Frank and Matthew Frank in 2015, TRX is backed by Sky Ventures and the Channel 4 Growth Fund, both of which are minority shareholders. TRX has spent the past two years developing the core product, and went into live beta in August 2016, having already achieved significant traction with international rights holders. There are over 350 buyers and sellers using TRX including Discovery Communications, Turner Broadcasting, All3Media International and Sky Vision.
David Glick, CEO of Edge, says: “The launch of TRX is a genuine game-changer for television rights licensing. At Edge we have invested in TV production and content creation over many years and this one of the most exciting innovations that we have witnessed, as an investment team. I am pleased to support our Edge Investment Manager, Jo Smith, as she leads our involvement in this transaction.”
Edge Investment Manager, Jo Smith, adds: “TRX is a really exciting business: it is the only platform that offers sellers and buyers the means to close deals entirely online from start to finish. Buying and selling TV rights has historically been unnecessarily complicated and inefficient: From our first conversation with management we at Edge were hugely impressed by the high-calibre management team who, we believe, are perfectly placed to change the way deals take place, bringing a much needed transformation to the secondary TV rights market, whether that is content producers/owners, broadcasters or distributors.”
David Frank, TRX Executive Chairman, says: “We are absolutely delighted that Edge Investments has decided to back TRX and our vision to transform the TV rights market. This investment will help drive our global rollout later this month. We have been emboldened by the positive response to our beta-test and will be taking a whole raft of new features to market, helping TV rights executives close more deals, more easily.”
