At Best Startup California we track over 300,000 Californian startups and over 1,500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and organisations we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
We’ve ranked the top 45 Digital Entertainment companies in Santa Monica, California. The companies, startups and institutions listed in this article are all exceptional companies, well worth a follow. We have included links to their websites, socials and CrunchBase (if you’re interested in their financials).
We selected the organisations listed in this article based on:
- Track record
- Executive leadership
- Market share
- Innovation
- ESG rating
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Top Digital Entertainment Companies & Startups (Santa Monica, California)
Dreamscape Immersive
Dreamscape Immersive is a company that uses VR technologies to create an entirely new form of mainstream location-based entertainment.
Founder(s): Caecilia Charbonnier, Kevin Wall, Ronald Menzel, Sylvain Chagué, Walter Parkes
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Information Technology, Virtual Reality
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Songtradr
Songradr is an online marketplace that facilitates music licensing for films, TV shows, ads, apps, and other media.
Founder(s): Paul Wiltshire
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Marketplace, Music, Music Streaming
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Narrativa
A machine learning-based platform to build natural language solutions in the Life Sciences, Financial Services and Marketing industries.
Founder(s): Antonio Moratilla, David Llorente, Eugenio Fernandez, Guy Hood
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Clinical Trials, Digital Entertainment, Life Science, Marketing Automation, Natural Language Processing
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First Contact Entertainment
A new studio focused on creating narrative-driven VR games & experiences with the highest production values
Founder(s): Hess Barber
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Gaming, Virtual Reality
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DMarket
DMarket is a marketplace for NFTs trading and technology for building metaverses.
Founder(s): Alexander Kokhanovskyy, Tamara Slanova, Vlad Panchenko
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, FinTech, Gaming, Internet, Marketplace
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Pantaya
Pantaya is a streaming service offering the best movies and series in Spanish, streaming exclusively in one place.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Music Streaming, Video Streaming
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Bad Robot
Bad Robot is a media production company that has produced television series, feature films, and interactive content.
Founder(s): J.J. Abrams
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Mobile Apps, Video
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TheWrap
The Wrap is a news website providing online stories on Hollywood and media businesses.
Founder(s): Sharon Waxman
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Blogging Platforms, Digital Entertainment, Media and Entertainment, News, Social Media
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Halon Entertainment
Halon Entertainment is a motion pictures company specializing in realtime visualization and virtual production for feature films.
Founder(s): Daniel Gregoire
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Animation, Broadcasting, Digital Entertainment, Film, Film Production, Telecommunications, Video Games, Virtual Reality
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Locations Almanac
Locations Almanac lets users discover where their favourite films were shot and helps get them there to explore for themselves.
Founder(s): Alex Conner, Chris Sams
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Apps, Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Film, Internet, iOS, Travel, UX Design
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Summit Entertainment
Summit Entertainment operates as a theatrical motion picture development, financing, production, and distribution studio in the U.S.
Founder(s): Robert G. Friedman
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment
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Graphite Comics, Inc.
Graphite Comics is an ad and subscription supported comic book reader platform for mobile devices.
Founder(s): Michael Eng, Rick Strom
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Comics, Digital Entertainment, Mobile Devices, Software, Subscription Service
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Giant Squid
Giant Squid is a small game development studio in Santa Monica,
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Software
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Santa Monica Studio
Santa Monica Studio (SMS) is the PlayStation® video game development team owned by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE).
Founder(s): Allan Becker
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment
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Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised events.
Founder(s): Dick Clark
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, TV, TV Production
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Skydance Productions
Skydance Productions is an American film and television production company based at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, California.
Founder(s): David Ellison
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Broadcasting, Digital Entertainment, Film, Music, News, TV
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Digital Nation Entertainment
Digital Nation Entertainment offers volumetric videos, mixed reality and digital entertainment services.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Media and Entertainment, Virtual Reality
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Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment is an American animation film production company.
Founder(s): Chris Meledandri, Christopher Meledandri
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Animation, Digital Entertainment, Video
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Nomad Editing Company, Inc
Nomad Editing Company is a motion pictures and film company that provides editorial, sound, and graphics design services.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Product Design, Social Media
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TraqIQ
TraqIQ is a development-stage company formed to operate as a film and television production company.
Founder(s): Ajay Sikka
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Film Production, Motion Capture
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Lightstream Pictures
Lightstream Pictures is an animation studio that creates animated feature films, television programs and online virtual worlds.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Animation, Digital Entertainment, Professional Services
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Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group is a North American music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Music
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Artistdirect
Artistdirect is a digital media entertainment company focused primarily on music.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment, Music
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WonderHowTo
WonderHowTo is a community-based instructional video guide website enabling users to search, browse and discover ‘how-to’ videos.
Founder(s): Mike Goedecke, Stephen Chao
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Gaming, Video
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IFILM
Screen Junkies is an online platform that offers the latest news and content from the entertainment industry.
Founder(s): Luke McDonough
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Video Streaming
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Big Block
Big Block is a production company, design boutique, and entertainment group.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Product Design
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Pong
Pong is a website where users can play network games online right from the site.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, E-Commerce, Gaming, Internet, Video Games
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Team Elemental
Professional esports organization
Founder(s): Jonathan Pan
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, eSports, Fitness
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Wordsworth and Company
Wordsworth is a digital media company that specializes in TV production to consumer goods, from high tech to nuts and bolts industries.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Professional Services
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4D VIEWR (AR/VR service agency)
4D VIEWR is a high-tech advertising agency specializing in premium augmented & virtual reality experiences.
Founder(s): Dennis Pinheiro, Dimitry Elyashkevich, Maria Tereso
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Apps, Augmented Reality, Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Events, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Virtual Reality
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Vision Tree
Vision Tree is transforming the world through media and technology.
Founder(s): J.D. Seraphine
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment
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Threshold Digital Research Lab
Threshold Entertainment makes Film, Television and Location-Based Entertainment
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment
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HLG Studios
HLG Studios is a digital media company that engages in the production of films and television shows.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Film Production, TV Production
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Famous
Famous is a mobile application that focuses on talent contests for singers, dancers, models and comedians to make them famous.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Media and Entertainment, Mobile Apps
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Television Four
Television Four is a web and TV channel focus on current events.
Founder(s): Jon Cody, Michael Haugh
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, TV, Video
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Conspiracy Entertainment Holdings Inc
Conspiracy Entertainment Holdings Inc is a developer, publisher and marketer of entertainment software in North America and Western Europe.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Gaming, Software
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RedLever
custom-created video content
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Content, Digital Entertainment, Video
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Everywun
Everywun makes it easy for people to support causes by: 1. taking fun, easy actions online 2. earning credits for every action they take 3.
Founder(s): Daniel Jacobs
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Credit, Digital Entertainment, Online Portals
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Wraters
Wraters is a secure screenplay management platform that offers screenwriters and film industry professionals a comprehensive suite of tools.
Founder(s): Raghu nandan K
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Film, Security
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Endless Media
Endless Media is a full service virtual entertainment production house. Our job is to bring people’s vision to life.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Broadcasting, Digital Entertainment, Internet, Social Media, Video
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Independent Comedy Network
Independent comedy network (ICN) offers media distribution services.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment
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Pop-Post
Pop-Post is a modern digital entertainment company specialized in engaging game applications for girls and women.
Founder(s): Kathleen Hiraga
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Gaming, Social Media
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SK Global Entertainment
SK Global Entertainment develops, finances, and produces commercial content for film, TV, digital media, and virtual reality.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, Media and Entertainment
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Santa Monica Art Studios
Santa Monica Art Studios is a studio that houses artists and their exhibits.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Music, Social Media
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Captionmeapp
Captionmeapp is a comedy app.
Founder(s):
Location: Santa Monica, California, United States
Industries: Digital Entertainment, Internet, Mobile Apps
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