Synchtank raises $5.8m in Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures

24 November 2021 - Press release

 

• Investment led by Octopus Ventures will enable the SaaS music and media platform to rapidly expand its rollout plans, product features and growth strategy.

• Synchtank already has an impressive client list including Warner Music, Vice and NFL

  

Synchtank, a B2B SaaS company that provides asset and rights management and royalty accounting solutions for the music and media industries, today announces that it has completed a $5.8 million Series A fundraise. The round was led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from existing management and shareholders.

The value of music IP (intellectual property) has skyrocketed in recent years thanks to the increased global adoption of streaming and a myriad of digital channels. Goldman Sachs forecasts music industry revenue to reach US $142 billion by the end of the decade, a near doubling in value between 2019 and 2030. This is reflected in the booming rights acquisition space, with billions of dollars pouring into blockbuster deals each month.

But while this new ecosystem is set to propel revenues to record heights, it has also created unprecedented challenges for those tasked with managing the underlying rights and making sense of an explosion of data coming in from endless distribution channels. These themes were covered extensively in the company’s esteemed 2021 Drowning in Data Report and Royalties Summit, keynoted by Hipgnosis CEO Merck Mercuriadis.

Synchtank addresses these challenges with software that provides the backbone for any modern media company looking to unlock more value from their IP. With the commercial release of royalty accounting platform IRIS at the beginning of 2021, Synchtank now offers an end-to-end solution, from asset, metadata, and rights management to royalty collection.

Customers range from independent labels and publishers through to global enterprises such as Warner Music, NFL, Vice, and the majority of Hollywood studios amongst others. Integration with enterprise systems such as SAP and Salesforce is a key part of the offering alongside the certified high security infrastructure.

As the product set evolves, Synchtank is seeing increasing demand for further feature development and ever-growing service delivery in both its core music and media segments. With significant opportunities growing in these sectors, plus new emerging sectors, the company is looking to strengthen its team, improve and expand upon existing services and features, and grow its customer footprint beyond North America and Europe.

Synchtank has been instrumental in integrating services that the industry typically uses from multiple vendors into one platform, simplifying procurement and support processes for its clients. This investment marks the start of an ongoing financial partnership with Octopus Ventures, enabling Synchtank to continue to build with partners to acquire, consolidate, integrate, and scale a fractured part of the ecosystem into high value services for its clients and partners. 

This latest investment round follows a total of $750,000 seed funding from management, shareholders, and Juno Capital Partners in 2020, bringing the total raised in the past year to $6.6 million. 

Rory Bernard, CEO of Synchtank, commented:
“We have come a long way as a company with phenomenal progress in the last two years taking the company far beyond its original sync-based business. We now provide the backbone for any modern media company, encompassing every part of their software requirements. We are excited to be working with Octopus with their focus and commitment on a long-term strategy in the company, funding not only this current round but also building further finance rounds as music, media and broadcast growth continues to explode, presenting a wealth of opportunities”  

Edward Keelan, B2B software investor at Octopus Ventures:
“The rapid growth of streaming means the music industry is almost unrecognizable from a decade ago, with huge investment now flowing into rights acquisitions too. While this is clearly a positive, it’s also created an explosion of complex data that has become challenging to manage.  Synchtank is perfect placed to capitalize on these trends, with a compelling end-to-end solution built on industry-leading technology. Ultimately, its platform allows rights holders to unlock more value from their IP, which has helped Synchtank to build an already impressive roster of clients for its stage. Rory and the team have huge depth of experience in the industry and we’re excited to support them on their mission as they keep scaling.”