Photo Credit: Duetti
About eight months after closing a $90 million round, indie-focused catalog investor Duetti has announced $114 million in fresh funding.
Duetti reached out today with word of its latest capital influx, stemming in large part from an $80 million asset-backed securitization. Touted by representatives as “the first instance of independent music rights being securitized with institutional Wall Street investors,” this Barclays-structured securitization arrived on the heels of Concord’s own ABS.
Meanwhile, the remaining $34 million resulted from equity financing attributable to Flexpoint Ford as well as existing backers Nyca Partners and Viola Ventures, according to Duetti. Unsurprisingly, the company, which says it deals in tracks that are at least two years old with north of 500,000 annual streams apiece, intends to use the newly obtained capital to bankroll additional IP purchases.
But Duetti also touched on plans to “expand its proprietary forecasting, pricing, sourcing, and marketing technology” with the just-secured $114 million. These tech improvements will fuel “even better data-driven deals with fast turnarounds,” according to the business, which is eyeing a variety of marketing and sync opportunities to boot.
Plus, reps pointed to New York City-based Duetti’s objective of expanding in cities including Los Angeles and Miami. All told, the company has raised north of $235 million since launch – “more than any other music startup in the past three years,” per the same reps.
“We believe we are leading the way in educating the capital markets on the significant long-term value of the independent music sector,” weighed in Duetti co-founder and CEO Lior Tibon. “The number of independent artists is growing at an unprecedented rate, and Duetti is here to ensure they have access to differentiated financing solutions.
“Duetti will now be able to utilize more diverse and efficient financing sources, enabling us to significantly expand and offer more funding options for independent artists, outside of the major label ecosystem,” concluded the former Deutsche Bank associate and Tidal COO Tibon.
Shifting the focus to the broader catalog landscape, October of 2024, in keeping with well-documented trends, has delivered fewer purchases than its 2023 counterpart. (DMN Pro’s one-stop Music Industry Funding Tracker has compiled these and other deals along with dates, valuation information, the exact rights at hand, and more.)
Nevertheless, the current month has brought several particularly high-value transactions – among them Sony Music’s reportedly $400 million deal for Pink Floyd’s recordings and NIL, Litmus Music’s pact with Randy Newman, and Concord’s $217.3 million play for a collection of Daddy Yankee assets.