Hallstone Ventures Announces the Final Close of Fund I Backing AI Infrastructure for Media, Entertainment, and Advertising

LOS ANGELES, CA – May 14, 2026 – Hallstone Ventures today announced the final close of Fund I, its inaugural fund focused on backing founders building the AI-driven infrastructure layer of the modern attention economy. Based in California, the firm invests in the foundational technology layer powering creators, distribution, participation and monetization – the operational systems that will drive the future of media and entertainment.

As the attention economy shifts toward AI-driven workflows and collaborative creation, Hallstone is focused on founders building durable technology across four core areas where it has deep operating experience and active deal flow:

• Creator infrastructure: Tools and platforms that help creators, creative teams, and media-native businesses operate more effectively, monetize more intelligently, and scale.
• AdTech and monetization rails: Technologies that improve how attention is measured, packaged, priced, distributed, attributed, and monetized across media, entertainment, advertising, and creator ecosystems.
• Immersive and spatial media systems: Infrastructure and tools supporting immersive production, spatial computing, virtual production, real-time creation, synthetic environments, and next-generation media experiences.
• Frontier media infrastructure: Emerging infrastructure categories that may shape the future of media distribution, capture, connectivity, and experience layers, including frontier space-enabled media infrastructure where relevant.

"AI is accelerating a rebuild of the software layer behind how media is created, distributed, measured, protected and monetized. Hallstone was formed to back the founders building that enabling layer. Storytelling will always be core to human experience, but the systems that support it are changing fast. We believe the next wave of durable companies will help creators, brands, platforms, and media companies generate revenue in ways that are safe, measurable, and rights-respecting, while expanding human creative potential."

Hallstone's limited partner network brings together senior operators and domain experts from across media and enterprise technology, who understand the operating layers founders need to navigate complex adoption curves. The best AI infrastructure founders in media and entertainment don't just need capital, they need partners who understand the buyers, workflows, monetization models, rights considerations, and adoption realities that determine whether new technology can scale across media, entertainment, advertising, and creator ecosystems.

Hallen is a 25-year entertainment industry veteran of technology infrastructure and has led global operations at Sony Pictures and Panavision's Light Iron. The firm's founders and partners have spent decades building and operating inside the very systems now being transformed by AI. Hallstone's venture partners include:

• Leon Silverman: Executive leadership spanning Walt Disney Studios, Netflix, MovieLabs, LaserPacific and Eastman Kodak.
• Andy Beach: Former CTO of Media and Entertainment at Microsoft, where he led cloud production strategy, AI-driven workflows and major enterprise partnerships.
• Claire Lee: A former Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) executive leading startup banking and former executive at Microsoft, where she led seed-stage strategic partnerships.
• Dave Kochbeck: Former founding CTO of Live Nation and former Chief Scientist at Silicon Valley Bank, with a rare blend of media-platform architecture, venture banking insight, and emerging technology strategy.

"Our LPs don't just provide capital — they bring context. We intentionally built Hallstone Fund I around a community of approximately 70 LPs, including senior technology, operating, and domain leaders across the media and entertainment technology ecosystem. That network spans studios, streamers, agencies, major technology platforms, and emerging media companies. For founders navigating buyer complexity, workflow integration, monetization, rights, safety, and adoption, that kind of lived expertise is a meaningful part of the Hallstone experience."

Hallstone believes that the future of media and entertainment will be built by the creator infrastructure that helps creators navigate through immersive workflows, design content and experiences that target fan engagement, and develop new forms of participation and monetization avenues.