Hearst Entertainment, a division of media group Hearst, led a $75m series D round for US-based music services provider Kobalt Music yesterday that valued it at $775m post-money, according to TechCrunch.
The round also featured venture capital firm Balderton Capital and MSD Capital, the investment vehicle for Michael Dell, founder of computing company Dell.
Founded in 2000, Kobalt operates a royalty collections platform covering record sales, music publishing and international neighbouring rights, as well as a networking service that connects artists and songwriters with opportunities to publicise or license their music.
The company’s client base comprises some 25,000 songwriters, 20,000 independent artists and 600 publishers, and it will use the series D funding to expand its royalties platform.
Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt’s founder and CEO, said: “With the high growth of streaming and the billions of microtransactions that take place per song, the music industry is more complex than ever.
“Guided by core principles of transparency, technology, and putting creators first, I have never been more sure that our platform, combined with our global creative team, is the right one to serve creators and rights owners in the rapidly evolving digital music environment.”
The round took Kobalt’s total funding to about $200m according to TechCrunch, and comes after GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet, led a $60m round in early 2015 that included MSD Capital and its hedge fund management affiliate MSDC Management.
– Image courtesy of Kobalt Music Group, Ltd.