Wrapbook Raises $20M to Compete With Cast & Crew, Entertainment Partners

Wrapbook, the startup payroll and accounting services firm targeted at film and TV productions, is aiming to bulk up its market share in Hollywood and has secured a new round of cash to do so.

The company’s co-founders, Ali Javid and Cameron Woodward, tell The Hollywood Reporter they’ve raised $20 million from venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners and are announcing a secondary tender offer for its staffers to sell a portion of their equity in the firm.

Wrapbook now values itself at $750 million, down from the $1 billion valuation that had been announced as part of its $100 million Series B round in November 2021, in the pre-AI hype market climate for tech-centric companies.

The company’s app allows production staff to on-board, pay and track payments for projects in an experience that its founders describe as a more modern alternative to some rivals that may offer more services (including residual payment processing).

Those entrenched giants include the Burbank-based Cast & Crew, which was established in 1976 and was acquired by private equity firm EQT in 2018 from Silver Lake Partners, which reportedly paid $700 million in 2015 for the payroll provider. Its in-town rival, Entertainment Partners, the production workforce management giant also founded in 1976 that owns Central Casting (yes, where the phrase “Straight out of Central Casting” came from), was similarly acquired by private equity giant TPG Capital in 2019.

Wrapbook’s co-founders see the company as the No. 3 entrant in the Hollywood payroll and financial services space. Its rivals have grown over the years through bolt-on acquisitions: Cast & Crew, for instance, nabbed budget, workflow and time-card software provider Media Services in 2020 to augment its product.

Woodward and Javid say that not being owned by a private equity firm has helped Wrapbook be more efficient with room for growth, without the expectation of an extractive financial relationship. The company, which has outposts in New York and West Hollywood but operates remotely, launched in 2018 with three employees. It raised $27 million in March 2021 from investors including Michael Ovitz, Andreessen Horowitz, Equal Ventures and Uncork Capital (and got this laudatory blurb, “It’s time we bring production financial services into the 21st century,” from investor Jeffrey Katzenberg). In November of that year, it unveiled its $100 million Series B round led by Tiger Global Management.

It’s grown to about 280 staffers as of this year and, with new financing, plans to build up to around 400 employees. The company says four studios (it won’t disclose which) have signed up to use its platform within the past year and that agencies, including CAA and WME, use Wrapbook to track payment progress for their film and TV clients.

Mary D’Onofrio, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, stated of the capital firm’s investment, “Wrapbook’s technology fundamentally enhances the capacity and impact of production finance teams. We’ve been pursuing this investment for years, recognizing its potential to reshape entertainment finance.”

Wrapbook now says 1,000 individual companies have used its product for film and TV payroll and accounting processing. “Wrapbook acts as a force multiplier for finance executives, production accountants and producers,” said Javid. “Our platform and elevated services model allow these crucial team members to manage complex processes efficiently and contribute more strategically to the productions’ success.”