Comeback

StreamTV: Austrian Start-Up Bets on TikTok After a Failed Investment

co-produced by AI30. September 2026, 11:33

The StreamTV founders in black T-shirts in front of a purple background — The StreamTV founders. © StreamTV

“We’re still alive, and things are looking up again.” That is how Thomas Rafelsberger, founder and chief executive of StreamTV, a start-up based in Steyr, Austria, sums up the past few years. On the day a funding round was to be signed, an investor pulled out, and a team of 55 shrank to 20. Now StreamTV is back with a new pillar: Mr. Rafelsberger and his co-founder Lukas Hoffmann have taken over TikFinity, a streaming tool that many creators on TikTok LIVE consider essential, and rebuilt it from scratch while it kept running.

The Day the Investor Walked Away

StreamTV was founded in 2018 by Mr. Rafelsberger, Mr. Hoffmann and Andreas Hanne as OWN3D Media and made a name for itself with designs, overlays and tools for streamers on Twitch and YouTube. In 2021, Trending Topics reported on its rebranding as StreamTV and a funding round of 1 million euros. The pandemic tripled revenue, and the team grew to 55 people.

In 2022, the livestreaming market slumped again. For a financing round the company needed, an investor then pulled out on the day of signing. The round still went ahead, but smaller than planned, and StreamTV had to cut its staff to about 20. “That was one of the hardest days of my life as a founder. We had to let go of people who had given a lot to the company,” Mr. Rafelsberger said. After a tough austerity course, the company says it is profitable again.

The Pivot to TikTok LIVE

The founders took their next step a year ago by acquiring TikFinity. The tool makes TikTok livestreams interactive: gifts, likes and comments trigger overlays, sounds, point systems and actions inside games. If a viewer sends a certain gift, for example, TikFinity presses a key in the game that the streamer would otherwise press, in titles from GTA 5 to Minecraft and Roblox. “The streamer gives up a bit of control, and that’s exactly what makes the stream exciting,” Mr. Rafelsberger said. Because gifts on TikTok cost real money and creators receive a share, viewers are effectively paying for influence over the stream.

According to the company, 2.9 million creators have signed up for TikFinity. Its biggest markets are far from Austria: Indonesia with 311,000 users, Thailand with 264,000, Brazil with 182,000 and Mexico with 178,000. There is a free version and a paid tier, TikFinity Pro.

“For us, TikFinity is a clear commitment to TikTok LIVE, well beyond a side project,” Mr. Rafelsberger said. The platform works differently from Twitch, YouTube and Kick, he added: “faster, more mobile, with interaction and gifts at the center.” The market is large. Data from Streams Charts show that TikTok LIVE is now the world’s second most-watched livestreaming platform, behind YouTube and ahead of Twitch, with 8.9 billion hours watched in the second quarter.

Rebuilding While Running

TikFinity began as a side project of a single developer in Germany, who is still on board. The tool is operated by STV Live GmbH in Schmelz, in the German state of Saarland, which Mr. Rafelsberger and Mr. Hoffmann run as managing directors. Over the past nine months, a core team of about 15 people replaced the four-year-old platform while it stayed live. TikFinity 2.0 has been rolling out gradually since August. “With A.I., we now work faster and more focused in every area,” Mr. Hoffmann said. That such a small team could rebuild an entire platform shows what has become possible, he added.

StreamTV and STV Live together now employ more than 30 people, all working remotely. The next product is already in testing: Reecorder, a tool from the Berlin-based Reecorder Labs GmbH, which Mr. Rafelsberger co-founded, automatically records TikTok livestreams with the creators’ consent. Plans include A.I.-generated clips of the best moments and an option to license the footage to A.I. labs.

The Competition

TikFinity has company in this market. TikTok offers its own streaming software, TikTok LIVE Studio, and established tools such as Streamlabs also support TikTok livestreams. TikFinity stresses that it is an independent tool with no affiliation to TikTok.