Band Industries raises a $2.8M Series A round to sustain their high-growth dynamics and take over music education
Band Industries, a music tech startup dedicated to building the next-generation musician’s toolkit, has successfully raised a $2.8M Series A funding round, led by Cedar Mundi Ventures. This news comes a few years after they raised their $1.5M Seed round in July 2016.
• Band Industrie's first product, the Roadie Automatic Instrument Tuner, garnered worldwide attention and accolades, including the TechCrunch Disrupt 2014 Audience Choice Award. They then successfully released the more advanced Roadie 2 in 2017, and Roadie Bass in 2018. These new products received truly massive early-adopter support from consumers and music professionals alike.
• The company has just recently launched a campaign on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for its new flagship product, the Roadie 3. This new product will be available to the wider public in October 2020.
• Band Industries’ investment round will contribute towards growing its business reach and product portfolio, while also doubling down on its proprietary technology. This will include a strong expansion into music education driven by hardware.
Hassane Slaibi, Co-Founder and CEO says, “The world of music is full of possibilities. This great human endeavor brings millions of people together all over the world and gives them a common language. We want as many people as possible to enjoy more time playing music and get inspired by our tech!”
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Read the full press release below.
Band Industries, the award-winning music tech startup based in Beirut and in Seattle, has now secured a $2.8 million-US Series A round.
The investment round was led by Cedar Mundi Ventures, a leading VC firm based in Beirut, and strengthened by the participation from other Lebanese investors iSME and B&Y Venture Partners. Berytech Fund II (Lebanon) and SOS Ventures (USA) also participated in the round as returning investors.
Band Industries has been dedicated to building the next-generation musician’s toolkit since 2013, when Co-founders Hassane Slaibi and Bassam Jalgha decided to combine their talents for music and tech. “The world of music is full of possibilities. This great human endeavor brings millions of people together all over the world and gives them a common language. We want as many people as possible to enjoy more time playing music and get inspired by our tech!” says Co-founder and CEO Hassane Slaibi.
Band Industries’ investment round will contribute towards growing its business reach and product portfolio, while also doubling down on its proprietary technology. This will include a strong expansion into music education driven by hardware. Bassel Attieh, Managing Partner of Cedar Mundi Ventures, says: “Band Industries is a fast-growing startup, with a strong development model. Hassane and Bassam are passionate entrepreneurs, developing smart devices and software disrupting the EdTech space, a vastly underserved market with identifiable pent-up demand. We are very happy to partner with such Lebanese talents and further accelerate their expansion plans.”
Abdallah Yafi, General Partner of B&Y Venture Partners, adds: “We've been following Roadie's progress since its early days. We're great fans of Hassane and Bassam, they and the rest of the team are rockstars. We've been working with Hassane closely and can't wait to see their exceptional work bear fruit as they innovate at the intersection of music, EdTech, and AI. B&Y is fully behind them and we wish them the best of luck.”
The company’s first product, the Roadie Automatic Instrument Tuner, garnered worldwide attention and accolades, including the TechCrunch Disrupt 2014 Audience Choice Award. Band Industries then successfully released the more advanced Roadie 2 in 2017, and Roadie Bass in 2018. These new products received truly massive early-adopter support from consumers and music professionals alike. Accolades earned include Best Entrepreneurial Company 2018 Award at Entrepreneurs 360 America, Gold Medal at London Design Awards, Best Music Startup 2018 Award at Primavera Pro Barcelona, and world-renowned press attention from TechCrunch, Wired, New Atlas, The Huffington Post, Guitar Mag, Guitar World, BBC, The Verge, the Wall Street Journal and many more.
Band Industries has just recently launched a campaign on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for its new flagship product, the Roadie 3. This new product will be available to the wider public in October 2020. As Co-founder and CTO Bassam Jalgha says: “Finding your sound is now more accurate, more convenient and faster than ever to keep your tunings consistently dead-on, no matter your experience level. With Roadie 3, we are bringing new audio algorithms, enhanced vibration detection with greater noise immunity, and a cool design to the market.”
Roadie 3 fast exceeded its first milestones, particularly in the current uncertain times. The campaign has so far gathered over 3,300 backers and 350,000 US$ support, quickly winning it the title of Kickstarter’s Projects We Love. Crowdfunding excellence is not a first for Band Industries, as back in 2013 the Roadie Tuner crowdfunding campaign gathered 2,000+ backers and 180,000 US$ support. In 2017, the team followed up on that success with the Roadie 2 and Roadie Bass campaign and reached 4,700 backers and 500,000 US$ support.
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2019 was a productive year for EdTech in MENA, as the industry witnessed more deals (29) and total funding ($20M) than any previous year. Access more data and trends in our new 2019 MENA Education Venture Investment Report.