BandLab, a Singapore-based music-creation firm, has concluded a $53 million Series B investment round at a $303 million post-cash value, just six weeks after purchasing artist services platform ReverbNation.
BandLab, a six-year-old company, revealed the multimillion-dollar funding on the Caldecott Music Group’s website. BandLab’s parent company, BandLab Technologies, relaunched as Caldecott earlier this month (leaving BandLab Technologies as a tech subsidiary) and owns NME, Guitar.com, Uncut, and other news outlets.
However, BandLab’s $53 million Series B investment round is the first “to involve outside investors” in the company’s history. The fundraising was led by Vulcan Capital, a Seattle-based firm that advertises itself as “the multi-billion dollar investment arm of Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen.” In addition, the firm was supported by SpaceX, TikTok, and Airbnb investor K3 Ventures, as well as Caldecott Music Group itself.
According to the press message, BandLab plans to utilize the funds “to expand its team and continue to enhance and grow its products to music creators and aspiring artists globally.” The platform’s more than 40 million users include “all types of skill levels, from first-time creators to GRAMMY-winning producers,” according to the executives.
BandLab also utilized a section of the press release to promote its “cross-platform creative ecosystem,” which includes a Mix Editor, “a complete royalty-free Sounds library,” and several indie-focused features (distribution, fans subscriptions, and so on).
In a statement, BandLab co-founder and CEO Meng Ru Kuok stressed his optimistic view for the company, which he claims would focus on artist pay in the future.
Meng Ru Kuok, CEO of Caldecott, NME Networks, BandLab Technologies, and Vista Musical Instruments Corporation, stated, “Our vision is a future where there are no barriers to making and sharing music, particularly among independent musicians and creators, and among mobile-first users, the billions of people with smartphones and original musical ideas.
We are focusing more on rights holder protection and artist compensation in addition to expanding our market-leading creation tools. If creators aren’t paid fairly, it’s a significant barrier to their growth and evolution as artists, he said.
Mimi Hearing Technologies, a digital hearing-testing business, raised $25 million in a Series B earlier this week, while Mixhalo, a live-event audio platform, received a different Series B ($24 million), and music-tech startup Audoo received roughly $9.5 million in “pre-Series B” finance. The Series B for the latter company is set for “mid-2022.”
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