MUSIC TECH STARTUP Andrson is getting ready to launch its smartphone application and expand its team after securing €430,000 seed funding.
The app is designed to help record companies and music industry professionals connect to new talent.
Andrson received investment in April from Powerhouse Capital – an investment company registered in Northern Ireland that backs both tech and real estate development. It previously raised €100,000 from a private investor in 2018.
Zach Miller-Frankel, Andrson’s co-founder and chief executive, told Fora that ”we are delighted to have achieved our goal and look forward to our next stage of production and growth.”
Speaking on the deal, Miller-Frankel said Colin Meagle of Continuous Ventures “has been our chief advisor through the whole thing, so he introduced us to Powerhouse and brokered the whole deal.”
Meagle currently acts as both chairman and interim chief technology officer of the company.
Andrson aims to launch in the coming months across all app stores, alongside the release of a desktop version.
“We have tested the beta app already and it is both market and technologically proven. So version 1.1 will go straight to market, ideally in June but it might be July,” Miller-Frankel said.
Andrson will also expand its team to six people with the new investment. The business is planning to add a full-time chief technology officer and three data-scientists.
Miller-Frankel said that in the next 12 months the company could also look to raise series A funding of €10 million, in conjunction with Powerhouse Capital and an undisclosed US firm.
‘Designed by musicians for musicians’
In an earlier interview with Fora, Dunne, the company’s chief innovations officer, said Andrson uses an algorithm to compare the audio of unsigned musicians to existing sound libraries so scouts can more easily search for new talent based on certain characteristics and location.
The app also helps musicians to connect and collaborate with one another and place them in front of industry professionals.
According to the company’s website the app is “designed by musicians for musicians”. The idea first came about in 2016 when Miller-Frankel and Dunne were studying in Trinity and part of a cappella group Trinitones. In May 2017, they registered the company Playground Music.
Miller-Frankel has experience working in various music management organisations in New York while Dunne has played violin and piano from a young age.
Written by Laura Roddy and posted on Fora.ie
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