Music tech innovator, Freshsound, has just secured €2 million for its self-serve licensing platform. The Stockholm-based team are on a mission to give a growing global community of content creators and storytellers access to the best possible music and now plans to scale.
Content creation and online storytelling are two massive growth sectors – from the rise of freelancers dedicated to content curation to brands using streaming and content for marketing. One thing all players in the space need is access to premium and original music. And that is what the Stockholm-based team Freshsound aim to deliver.
Founded in 2021 by Stephen Gyasi and Sara Larsson, Freshsound offers a self-serve licensing platform for commercially released music. The startup has now secured €2 million in a new funding round, adding to the €1.3 million secured last year.
This round was led by Zenith Venture Capital and Aligned, supported by a range of investors with expertise in music, innovation, product development and sales. These include Kristina Tunkrans (former lawyer and copyright expert), Erik Segerborg (investor and former Executive at Hemnet and Avito), Gustav Nordlindh (Founder and CEO at Royal Streaming), William Olsson (Movie Producer and Director) and Shiv Prakash (previous Vice President of the Investment Team at Hipgnosis Song Management).
Stevie Gyasi, CEO, Freshsound: “Our investors recognise the importance of our mission to transform the rights process for commercial music. This investment round will help Freshsound to build its pool of professional storytellers in advertising and production, increasing the potential for music creators to make money and for the content creators to make even more impactful content. We’re excited to continue on our journey into the next phase and bring more users to our cause.”
Freshsound helps content creators within commercials, films, TV and gaming to make more impactful content by providing an instant licensing platform. By using the platform, creators can select and get recommendations for commercially-focused music from an original music marketplace that removes the friction of negotiating.
Further, the company leverages a dynamic pricing model to instantly give users a quote for any use and the ability to license the song for commercial use, and this simple and convenient process helps music creators to earn a better living out of their music.
With this latest funding, the Swedish startup plans to go global, whilst establishing a strong base in the Nordics. The funding will also be used to build awareness of the platform’s capabilities for licensing music for any kind of production.
Caroline Cronstedt, Co-founder and Head of Investments, Zenith Venture Capital: “Freshsound has a dynamic plan to build its network of customers, and this investment will help them to achieve their goals and change the way in which licensing of commercial music is done today – while helping artists to be more self-sufficient.”
