EXCLUSIVE: Punchup Live, the live entertainment platform founded by former Meta exec Danny Frenkel and Meta/Apple software engineer Alex Dajani, has raised $2.3 million in an oversubscribed seed fundraising round.
Led by Social Leverage, the round saw participation from all major existing investors including Hustlefund and Evil Twin Capital. The new injection of capital will accelerate Punchup Live’s mission to reimagine how fans discover and engage with live entertainers in the digital age, allowing Punchup to double down on its work in the comedy space, while expanding into music, magic, and live-podcasting shows.
Punchup Live is changing how comedians connect with their fans, by offering in‑depth analytics that comprise powerful actionable intel as to who and where one’s audience is and fostering a direct dialogue with them. In addition to its analytics, the company aims to provide a uniquely frictionless ticket purchasing experience appealing to artists and fans alike. Recently, they successfully fulfilled over 55,000 ticket requests without a single disruption as the official ticketing partner for San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival.
Also part of the experience of Punchup Live is the offering of exclusive content from today’s top performers, including comedian Mark Normand, whose Page to Stage video series offers direct access to the joke-writing process, following the journey of a single joke from fledgling idea to refined performance. The company serves as host to over 5,000 hours of material and most recently debuted Small Ball, a new special from veteran New York comic Joe List, on June 5.
“Comedy is having a cultural resurgence, and it deserves modern infrastructure,” said Punchup Live’s CEO and co-founder, Frenkel, in a statement. “This raise allows us to double down on building tools that serve both fans and performers—while continuing to win trust with premier venues and festivals. We’re also excited to extend that value to new verticals.”
