Electric Jukebox has announced the closure of a £1.5million Series A round, bringing its total funding to date to £7 million. The startup attracted support from a hefty list of investors including Mark Gretton, former CTO at TomTom; Sir Malcolm Williamson, senior independent non-executive director at Aviva, and David Munns CBE, former worldwide vice-chairman and CEO of North America, EMI. Also participating in the round was YOLO Leisure and Technology, an AIM listed company.
Backed by big names like Robbie Williams, Stephen Fry, Alesha Dixon and Sheryl Crow, the Electric Jukebox is designed around your TV, without the need to work on anything else. The streaming device plugs directly into the HDMI port, which can then be navigated using the wireless controller.
The peripheral is home to a motion sensor and microphone — allowing for gesture control and voice searches. There are four buttons on the front: at the top is a large OK, a back and pause in the middle and the bottom button invokes voice commands.
It basically lets you stream music tracks without the need to pay a monthly subscription fee. The device was first announced at the Baftas last year and had an expected launch date of the following Christmas. However, the date was then reportedly pushed back to Easter 2016. Rob Lewis, CEO, Electric Jukebox, in a statement last year, said,
I’m not after the Spotify customer. I’m after everyone else.
This suggested that Electric Jukebox is after the older customer, who wants to listen to music but not trawl through endless lists of tracks or pull out their smartphone. Now, in a statement to Tech City News, Lewis said:
The last tranche of investment from YOLO brings total funding for the launch of Electric Jukebox to £7m, helping us to bring music streaming to the masses by making music streaming as simple as a radio or CD player.
As the only British music streaming player backed by Robbie Williams, Stephen Fry, Alesha Dixon and Sheryl Crow, we’re excited to shake up the market. Now we can make music streaming accessible to all.
With its newfound nest-egg of funds, the London-based firm now says it will now launch its product, which seeks to rival the likes of Spotify(even if its says it doesn’t). It will officially hit the stores for £169 from midnight today.
