News - 27/02/2015

Google Ventures leads $60 million investment in Kobalt

Google Ventures leads $60 million investment in Kobalt

Kobalt, the fast-growing pioneering music publisher, has raised a $60 million in a Series C round of funding led by Google Ventures. The other key players are existing investor MSD Capital, the private fund belonging to Michael S. Dell (founder of computer maker Dell) and his family, plus MSDC Management.

This round of financing is on top of the $66 million already raised by the company founded by CEO Willard Ahdritz (pictured).

The clients of Kobalt, which says it is currently the US’ second biggest publisher, include Beck, Maroon 5, Skrillex, Beck and Foo Fighters. The company has injected radical innovation into music publishing by also specialising in global music rights management.

It is the groundbreaking technology used for the latter that has attracted the attention, and cash, of major tech investors like Google Ventures and MSD Capital.

The money will be used to support Kobalt’s commitment to serving artists and songwriters with creative services tailored to their specific needs, as well as develop the company’s portfolio of technology solutions to collect and report music royalties in today’s complex digital market.

This is increasingly in demand as streaming revenues’ growth rate soars at a faster rate than other business models. This is explained in Kobalt’s video below.

Kobalt has demonstrated strong growth in streaming collections in Europe and predicts this will be replicated globally and the company’s next goal is to track the reach of music to as many as 1.5 billion music listeners worldwide.

Ahdritz says: “We are relentless in our mission to increase trust between the music and technology industries in order to build a new infrastructure that benefits fans, creators, rights owners and digital service providers.”

“The music industry is going through dynamic changes all around the world and Kobalt will be instrumental in shaping its future positively for all constituents, starting with artists,” adds Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures. “Kobalt’s commitment to trust, transparency and technology has positioned it as one of the most innovative brands in media today.”


[Juliana Koranteng]
 

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