Singapore's BandLab raises $25m

The investment, billed as an extension of a USD 65m Series B round led by Cercano last year, values the company at USD 425m. The prior deal gave the company a post-money valuation of USD 315m.

Both tranches included participation from Naspers-owned Prosus Ventures. K3 Ventures of Singapore joined last year's investment, as did Caldecott Music Group, BandLab's parent company.

BandLab positions itself as a service that brings down conventional barriers to creativity through technology, as well as a bridge between independent musicians and record labels. The platform includes a digital audio workstation, royalty-free samples and loops, and an artificial intelligence-enabled music generator. There is a strong emphasis on community and interaction.

The company emphasises that its 60m registered users include viral TikTok stars to Grammy-winning producers, but the focus is on first-time creators, amateur project sharing, and emerging artist discovery. The offering also includes an artist promotion services platform called ReverbNation.

ReverbNation, which has about 3m registered users, was acquired in 2021 when BandLab had about 40m users. It is representative of an apparently M&A-focused growth strategy; AVCJ Research has records of five prior acquisitions.

"Since our original investment, BandLab has been steadfast in demonstrating its exceptional potential in making music creation accessible and enjoyable to a global audience," Tommy Teo, a managing director and head of Southeast Asia at Cercano, said in a statement.

"BandLab's dedication to nurturing creativity and fostering collaboration among its growing community of highly-engaged users is truly unique. We believe in their vision and the power of the BandLab platform to unlock the next generation of artists and fans and to bridge the creation gap between established markets and emerging, underserved areas."

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Media
• Early-stage
• Singapore
• Vulcan Capital
• Prosus Ventures
• TMT