Podcast management and monetization platform Sounder announced that it had raised $1.8 million in a seed financing round led by Ulu Ventures.
The funding round was also backed by Newark Venture Partners, Xoogler.co, a community of Google alumni and current Google employee investors, and individual Spotify and Google executive angel investors.
Founded in 2019 by former Google and Spotify executives, Sounder connects creators to the tools and services they need to grow audiences and revenue.
The firm said its proprietary Pinpoint Audio Search technology brings discoverability to audio content, making each podcast more valuable—and more likely to be shared and heard.
The company will use the proceeds to make several key hires, marketing initiatives, and further development of its end-to-end podcast management platform.
“This capital will be integral in funding the continued development of innovative features on our platform as well as our efforts to educate the podcast community on Sounder’s functionality and breakthrough technology,” said Kal Amin, Co-founder and CEO of Sounder.
As a technology company, Amin believes Sounder’s best move is to keep a focus on hosting, transcribing, search, and discoverability tools. While other hosting platforms like Acast and Audioboom have branched out into content creation during the past year, Amin said that is not a move he expects Sounder will replicate.
He said that since the company’s launching, it had been enthusiastically received by independent creators and enterprise-level publishers alike.
Sounder has already achieved widespread recognition in the rapidly growing podcast market, amassing thousands of shows and millions of streams in over 50 languages worldwide.
“We take a data-driven approach to investments, and were very impressed by the value Sounder is bringing to the rapidly growing market for audio content,” said Miriam Rivera, Co-founder and Manager Director of Ulu Ventures.
Sounder’s Pinpoint Audio Search technology has been seamlessly integrated into leading publishing websites, including The Players’ Tribune, helping media companies derive greater value from their audio content.
The technology makes it easy to find exact moments within millions of podcasts, increasing their shelf life and value to listeners.
“We love the clean design. The search function is effective and is a groundbreaking concept for podcast listeners,” said Corey Miller, Content Strategist of The Players’ Tribune. #
