Create Music Group has completed its latest funding round, valuing the company at $2.2 billion and securing over $450 million of new equity and debt capital to support its continued expansion.
The company remains majority-owned by its founders, with institutional investors Ares Management, 2 Mile and Flexpoint Ford each holding minority stakes. The financing round also included expanded bank group support, with Truist Securities and Banc of California serving as joint lead arrangers.
The funding round follows Create’s strategic investment in Nettwerk Music Group, a transaction totaling more than $300 million.
“At a time when the future of media, technology and creative ownership is being rewritten, we’ve become the definitive platform for the music and media industries’ most visionary entrepreneurs,” said Jonathan Strauss, co-founder and CEO, Create Music Group. “This capital will not only accelerate our roadmap, expanding our footprint in media, IP and technology, but also empower our partners to build generational businesses that redefine culture and value creation across the global entertainment ecosystem.”
We’ve become the definitive platform for the music and media industries’ most visionary entrepreneurs
Jonathan Strauss
Will Smith, chief financial officer at Create Music Group, said: “The music industry is as dynamic as it has ever been, with rapid growth in new consumption channels and means of creation, which is creating vast opportunities for agile, digital-first companies to reshape the status quo. In that context, this fundraise is an exciting milestone for Create and the product of a lot of hard work from our entire team over many years.
“The newly raised capital will support continued acquisitions, strategic investments, technology development and global expansion – reinforcing Create’s long-term commitment to building the industry-defining platform for the world’s leading music businesses and entrepreneurs.”
Founded in 2015, Create is an owner-operator of labels, catalogues and creative businesses. It combines proprietary technology, data analytics, digital marketing expertise and strategic capital deployment.
Over the past 12 months, the company has invested more than $500 million across acquisitions, advances and other growth initiatives.
The company has assembled a collection of independent labels and catalogue businesses that maintain operational autonomy while leveraging the reach and strategic capabilities of the Create platform. These include Broke, Monstercat, !K7 Music, Cr2 Records and Mau5trap, the label founded by Deadmau5 and many more.
PHOTO: Jonathan Strauss (credit: Rich Polk)
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.musicweek.com ’
