Pophouse Entertainment co-founder Björn Ulvaeus. Photo Credit: UMG
Pophouse Entertainment has closed its €1.2 billion (currently $1.3 billion) inaugural fund, which is “approximately 30% deployed.”
Stockholm-based Pophouse announced the fund’s closure this morning, describing the $1.3 billion at hand as its “hard” funding cap. Behind the sizable sum, the Björn Ulvaeus-founded company says it’s secured investments from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, “high-net-worth individuals,” and others yet.
And as mentioned, although it’s been three years since Pophouse made a catalog-acquisition splash by buying Swedish House Mafia’s IP, the majority of the fund is undeployed.
Especially since 2024 saw Pophouse pick up the dealmaking pace – referring to agreements with both Cyndi Lauper (February) and KISS (April) – it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for additional plays during 2025.
While Pophouse opted against disclosing its precise IP purchasing plans today, it did underscore a continued emphasis on an “artist-centric approach to investing.” In short, that approach revolves around taking stakes in publishing, recording, and NIL rights alike.
“By investing across publishing, recording, and brand rights,” Pophouse managing partner Johan Lagerlöf added on this front, “Pophouse has created a uniquely attractive prospect not only for investors but also for artists, empowering them to explore and amplify their legacy to new generations of fans.”
“Facing unprecedented disruption caused by streaming and technology, music intellectual property presents a differentiated, lifetime opportunity for investors,” said Pophouse co-founder Conni Jonsson. “We are reshaping the entertainment industry by applying an active, value-add approach that unlocks future generations for fandom.”
As things stand, the all-encompassing strategy isn’t exactly prevalent in the music-IP arena, where rapid-fire deals, large and small, remain the norm.
But Iconoclast’s Tony Bennett catalog investment extends to NIL, and Primary Wave earlier in March bought a diverse collection of Notorious B.I.G. rights, to name a couple examples.
Furthermore, Pophouse, having hit a financial homerun with its ABBA Voyage hologram concert, is leveraging its IP holdings in the digital-avatar space as well. (According to its ticketing-availability breakdown for April, ABBA Voyage is still attracting a number of attendees.)
A hologram version of KISS is forthcoming, and last summer, reports indicated that Pophouse was in talks to develop an Elvis avatar concert.
This possible Elvis hologram would follow a separate Elvis Evolution “walkthrough immersive experience,” which is seemingly riding a wave of fan interest. Developed by Layered Reality and showing (like ABBA Voyage) in London, Elvis Evolution has already sold out for May, June, and July 2025, per its website.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.