Genius, the platform which gives music fans the context behind their favorite lyrics, has announced the raise of $15m in fresh investment.
The funding is lead by Everblue, a new fund by Eric Mindich primarily focused on music and e-sports.
Existing Genius investors and board members Dan Gilbert and Andreessen Horowitz also participated in the round.
Mindich is an American hedge fund manager and the CEO and Founder of hedge fund Eton Park Capital Management.
With more than 2 million YouTube subscribers, Genius claims to have the fastest-growing music channel on YouTube and continues to power an integration within Spotify called Behind the Lyrics.
Genius says it plans to use its new funding to ‘amplify work in original content and video, community development, live events, and strategic partnerships with streaming services and new platforms’.
“Our mission at Genius is to be the No.1 brand in music.”
“Our mission at Genius is to be the No.1 brand in music, and because of the amazing work and vision of our team and our partners, we’re well on our way,” said Ilan Zechory, co-founder and president of Genius. “We’re excited to find new ways to connect artists and fans and keep pushing the possibilities of music storytelling.”
Over the past year, Genius launched artist-driven video franchises including VERIFIED and Deconstructed, attracting artists such as SZA, Camila Cabello, Charlie Puth, John Legend, and Lil Yachty to share how their biggest songs came to be.
The brand has also expanded into live events, hosting IQ/BBQ, a single-day summer music festival headlined by Pusha T, and Lyrics to Life, a pop-up art exhibition inspired by song lyrics that today wraps its sold-out run in Downtown Los Angeles.
Dubbed an ‘encyclopedia of music’, New York-based Genius was founded in 2009 as a platform for annotating rap lyrics.Music Business Worldwide
