Songtradr secures $109 million in one of 2023’s largest raises for an Aussie-founded firm

Songtradr, the music licensing platform founded by Australian songwriter and entrepreneur Paul Wiltshire, is reportedly worth $879 million after booking a $109 million capital raise.

The new capital injection is one of the largest funneled into an Australian-founded company in 2023.

Songtradr bills itself as an all-in-one music licensing platform for corporates, small businesses, and content creators, providing tunes for use in everything from advertisements to TikToks and Twitch streams.

Subscribers can select specific tracks from the Songtradr marketplace and can browse from playlists corresponding to different moods, like selections inspired by recent film and TV hits like Oppenheimer and The Bear.

Songwriters and producers, who populate the platform’s catalogue, earn fees whenever a Songtradr client licenses their music.

Wiltshire himself has described the platform as a B2B version of Spotify.

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That billing, and the growth of the music licensing market, appear to have wooed investors after a lull in capital-raising activity.

The Australian Financial Review reports the Los Angeles-based company’s Series E round took 18 months to close, capping off a tough period for founders seeking extra capital.

Joining the round was Epic Games — the same company that sold the D2C music sales platform Bandcamp to Songtradr last month, in a process that saw Bandcamp lose half its workforce.

The gaming giant reportedly joined previous investors including WiseTech’s Richard White, Perennial, and Argo in the series E raise.

Previously, Australian-based investors including the St Baker family office, Regal Funds Management, and Aware Super have invested in the company.

Beyond Bandcamp, Songtradr has undertaken a long string of acquisitions as it shores up its position in the lucrative music licensing sphere.

Other recent acquisitions include:

• Tunefind, a database for music used in television, film and video games, which Songtradr acquired in April 2021;
• MassiveMusic, the creative music agency which has provided “strategic sonic branding solutions” for brands including Nike, Heineken, and Apple, which entered the Songtradr universe in June 2021;
• Musicube, the AI search tool allowing brands to find music based on factors like audience, mood, and even specific vocal features, which Songtradr acquired in June 2022.

SmartCompany has contacted Songtradr for comment.