Women in Innovation Success Stories: Chantal Epp, ClicknClear
As the founder of the world’s first company to provide solutions to complex music licensing obstacles in choreographed sports, Chantal Epp is a true trailblazer.
Her business, ClicknClear, works with hundreds of record labels and music publishers to deliver officially licensed music to choreographed sports teams and performing arts ensembles worldwide, complete with the specialist rights needed for its use. This gives the music industry access to approximately $2.4 billion of additional untapped annual revenue.
Through the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award, Chantal gained a better understanding of the importance of planning UI/UX, the benefits of improved testing throughout the project, and crucially, the power of peer support.
“I’ve experienced the power of women supporting women. The Women in Innovation cohort have been incredibly supportive of each other,” she said.
Hitting key milestones and opening new doors
Chantal joined the programme ready to reach three key milestones on her pioneering journey: signing sports federation deals; implementing a licence verification system; and creating a new piece of tech to expand the firm’s revenue opportunities. These steps led to securing more investment and opportunities through Innovate UK.
“Since we started this project, we have increased revenue, gained more external investment and secured an additional Innovate UK grant. We’ve also signed up new sports clients, have developed our new MixM8 product and hired 2 new members of the team.”
“Overall, we are growing and continuing to execute our business plan whilst accelerating expansion into new markets,” said Chantal.
Chantal is already seeing huge success in this area, having recently signed a deal with Warner Chappell Music to add their catalogue of more than 1.3 million songs to the ClicknClear platform. ClicknClear’s growth has also continued with support from Innovate UK’s Create Growth Programme, a DCMS-funded initiative delivered by Innovate UK.
Collaboration contributes to growth
At the very beginning of your entrepreneurial experience, it can be difficult to envisage where your business will be in one to five years. By working with Innovate UK, Chantal learned how improving her time management whilst raising her young child could help her in those all-important planning stages.
In the next five years, Chantal wants to see ClicknClear become the leading music licensing and verification system for choreographed sports worldwide – from gymnastics to figure skating and cheerleading to dance, and to start expanding into new markets.
For those with plans to take their enterprise to the next level, Chantal offers this advice:
“It’s great to get funding from Innovate UK as it adds clout to your business or idea.
Also, being connected with other female founders is great in terms of extra support you can get, and opportunities to learn from others in the group who are all at different stages of their business.
“I’d recommend attending Innovate UK events and networking opportunities. I’ve always gained something from attending these – be it help with another grant, investment or a potential project partner,” she said.
Read more success stories from the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards.
Related programmes
Women in Innovation
Enabling brilliant women across the UK to fully achieve their vision for their businesses and change the world, while championing and celebrating gender diversity throughout UK innovation.
Create Growth Programme
Helping businesses in England convert their creative potential into creative growth.