The Australian music NFT marketplace Serenade has announced a $4.2 million investment to fund its global expansion.
The new fundraise will help further fund and grow Serenade’s artist and partner roster across the UK, Australia, and the United States. Part of the funding round will help Serenade expand to the US and open a dedicated office there.
Serenade has been supported by several high-profile music industry investors, including senior management from Atlantic Records UK, Secret Sounds, Future Classic, UNIFIED Music Group, Warner Music Group, and the actor, Hugh Jackman. The investment group also includes Matt Gundinski and Johann Poniah of Mushroom Group and former Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning.
Serenade says as part of its global expansion, the music NFT marketplace will be undergoing a visual brand refresh and improvement to its underlying technology. The new marketplace, dubbed Serenade 2.0, will offer artists unique smart contracts with the ability to split and update royalties among multiple beneficiaries. Meanwhile, fans will have an improved visual and user experience, including the ability to transfer their NFTs outside of the Serenade platform to third-party marketplaces like OpenSea.
Back in February 2022, Serenade partnered with the Brit Awards to create the events’ first ever NFT Collection. The Adele x Artist of the Year Award NFT sold out within 30 minutes of its launch. Serenade launched in autumn 2021 and has worked with several artists both independent and household names. Some of those artists include Young M.A., The Kooks, Jungle, Super Furry Animals, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, and Gary Powell from The Libertines.
During the past week, Serenade has released NFT collections with emerging Australian and UK acts. Those include Confidence Man, Kota Banks, Juice Menace, Dead Pony, and Shivum Sharma.
“We’ve been thrilled with the platform’s development since launching six months ago, and this progress is a testament to the incredible work of both our team and the investors who’ve backed us,” says Max Shand, Founder of Serenade. “We know there is a huge demand for accessible, eco-friendly NFTs and we look forward to further growth, developing the US and other markets and launching version 2.0 of the platform in the coming weeks and months.”