Unhurd founder and CEO Alex Brees. Photo Credit: Unhurd
AI-powered music-marketing startup Unhurd (stylized as “un:hurd” as well as “unhurd”) has officially announced a seven-figure seed round.
London-based Unhurd, which raised £250,000 two years back and launched its app last year, unveiled this latest round via a formal release today. Founded by former Universal Music artist-insight analyst Alex Brees, Unhurd says that it utilizes “proprietary technology and AI to turn music & social data into impactful promotional campaigns” for north of 25,000 acts from 129 nations.
Though the platform hasn’t publicly identified the precise sum associated with the seed raise, it did confirm to DMN that investors delivered capital in the low-seven-figure range this time around.
Jagermeister’s Best Nights VC (also a backer of Barcelona-headquartered events startup Xceed), SoundCloud VP of music intelligence Hazel Savage, and Kobalt Capital CEO Johan Ahlström are said to have participated in Unhurd’s seed round, which was led by Kobalt Music founder Willard Ahdritz.
Additionally, Ahdritz has joined Unhurd “as a lead investor and advisor.” The startup intends to use the newly received funding “to build out its suite of tools and services” as it works to assist artists in expanding their followings. During 2022, the business “helped generate over 10 million streams for artists,” according to higher-ups.
“The next 12 months will be all about developing the technology at unhurd to ensure every artist that uses the app receives fantastic value from the product,” indicated Unhurd, which counts as clients acts including Emmavie and D’banj.
Addressing his company’s seed capital in a statement, Unhurd CEO Alex Brees said in part: “Our product has made strong progress over the last 18 months with a lean team. We’ve learnt a lot about what artists really want and we now have the opportunity to build upon our initial product launch with some really exciting new features.
“Our mission has always been to empower artists from around the world with a data-led, best in class marketing platform and I now see this mission as being supercharged with years of industry knowledge thanks to this new fundraise,” concluded the former Keakie and Carwow exec Brees.
And in remarks of his own, Ahdritz emphasized Unhurd’s perceived significance for indie and emerging creators.
“It’s incredibly difficult for artists to continue to be creative whilst also expanding and nurturing their fanbase as entrepreneurs,” the Kobalt Music chairman communicated in part. “Great tools that make an artist’s life easier is exactly what’s needed and I believe un:hurd will become an essential partner to independent artists around the world.”
Earlier this week, as artificial intelligence continues to play an increasingly far-reaching role in the music industry and beyond, Character.AI reportedly raised $200 million or so at a $1 billion valuation.