KOR Protocol, a London‑based platform building what it describes as a “creative asset clearinghouse,” has raised $7.5 million in a Series A round at a $100 million valuation. The funding is led by crypto‑native fund 1kx and Blockchain Capital, with participation from existing backers including Republic Crypto, Sfermion, Animoca Brands, Solana, Avalanche, Alumni Ventures, SevenX and other strategic investors across digital assets, entertainment and emerging technology.
The company’s core thesis is that AI has dramatically reduced the cost of producing professional‑grade creative work, but has not solved the problems of discovery, distribution, or payment for independent talent. KOR is building an end‑to‑end system designed to register creative output, guide talent via AI agents, route opportunities to labels, agencies, multi‑channel networks, brands, curators and platforms, and move payments more quickly and transparently across the ecosystem. The platform starts with entertainment, where attention flows, and upside is high, but value capture is often misaligned with who creates the work, and where scouting, data, deal flow, and payment systems remain fragmented and manual.
The Series A is framed as validation of KOR’s view that the next phase of AI will require infrastructure for value movement, not just value creation. Capital will be used to expand the supply of licensed music and entertainment IP available to AI‑native products, deepen the protocol and product stack, and bring more creators, rights holders and developers into a shared ecosystem. KOR’s long‑term vision is to become the clearinghouse where creative work enters the AI economy, finds relevant demand and “clears” value back to its source through structured payment and licensing flows.
Ritty Quin was appointed CEO late last year to lead this next phase of growth. A UCL PhD alumnus, he began his career at ByteDance before moving into marketing roles across the technology sector and is also a YouTube Partner and electronic music producer signed to Live Nation Asia. Quin has generated more than 30 million impressions as a creator, appeared on Beatport’s Top 100 House charts and BBC Radio 1 Dance, and headlined Creamfields Asia in 2025, giving him direct experience of both the creator side and the operational challenges of turning audience momentum into sustainable distribution and revenue.
Since launch, KOR reports surpassing 1 million lifetime sign‑ups, 400,000 connected wallets, over 1,000 IP partners, and more than $2 million in gross revenue. Current IP partners include brands and franchises such as Black Mirror, Beatport, mau5trap, Imogen Heap, Banijay Group, and KDDI, which KOR sees as evidence that both creators and entertainment businesses are seeking better infrastructure to manage talent, IP, and data in the next phase of the entertainment economy.
KOR’s platform is organized around three main layers: production, distribution, and monetization. The production layer establishes origin, authenticity, ownership, and clearance for creative work, effectively structuring content as verifiable assets. The distribution layer uses intelligence and workflow tools to route talent, content, and opportunities to appropriate partners, while the monetization layer helps creators and commercial counterparties manage payments, splits, commissions, licensing flows, and revenue opportunities.
Several applications are already built on the KOR protocol. KORUS is a music remixing and creation tool that allows artists to release official music packs for fans and creators to remix. Pacer is an AI “operating system” for music that supports release strategy, audience intelligence, partner outreach and workflow execution. Other products include VRSNS, Streamline and KOR Hubs, which collectively aim to give creators and entertainment businesses an integrated environment for managing output, data and deals.
The new funding will support KOR as it expands product capabilities, scales strategic partnerships across music and entertainment, brings more creators and commercial partners onto the platform and builds toward its next major network rollout. As AI drives creative markets toward more output, more agents and more transactions, KOR is positioning its protocol as the layer where those assets are verified, routed and settled.
KEY QUOTE:
“AI has removed many of the barriers to creating professional work, but it has not fixed what happens next. As both an artist and an operator, I know how difficult it is to translate strong work and audience momentum into distribution, partnerships, and sustainable revenue. KOR is building the system that connects those pieces by helping talent get recognized earlier, reach the right opportunities, and build lasting careers.”
Ritty Quin, CEO of KOR
