Japan-headquartered music instrument and audio tools maker Yamaha has introduced a $50 million company enterprise capital fund to put money into music and media startups.
The Yamaha Music Improvements Fund I, LP (YMIF) will start to speculate this month, the corporate mentioned in an announcement on Thursday (Could 8).
Final yr, Yamaha arrange Yamaha Music Improvements (YMI), a Silicon Valley-headquartered “enterprise improvement base” meant to safe the corporate’s “management place as an innovator within the fields of sound and music.”
“Since establishing our base in Silicon Valley in April 2024, we now have collaborated with six startups by leveraging our group’s belongings because the main complete musical instrument producer with the No.1 market share,” YMI President and CEO Yusuke “Scott” Sugino mentioned.
“By our funding actions through YMIF and enterprise collaborations using our belongings, we’re bringing our mechanisms for creating new worth and new companies to the subsequent stage.”
The YMI fund shall be headed up by Managing Accomplice Andrew Kahn, a veteran of the music innovation area. An alumnus of Dwell Nation, Kahn most not too long ago spent six years as a Accomplice at Crush Ventures, whose expertise administration agency, Crush Music, has a expertise roster that features Miley Cyrus, Panic! on the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Lorde, Sia, Weezer, Inexperienced Day, and Lil Nas X, amongst others.
Kahn additionally spent a number of years as a founding member of short-form media software program firm Greenfly. Billboard named him one among “Music’s High Traders in Tech of The Future” in 2023.
“With this fund, we’ll be backing early-stage, visionary founders on the intersection of tradition, creativity, and expertise – from next-gen artistic instruments and AI to interactive media, immersive music experiences, studying platforms, and new fashions for collaboration and creator empowerment,” Kahn mentioned in a put up on LinkedIn.
“With this fund, we’ll be backing early-stage, visionary founders on the intersection of tradition, creativity, and expertise.”
Andrew Kahn, Yamaha Music Improvements Fund
YMIF says its core funding areas shall be:
- Artistic Instruments and Infrastructure: Subsequent-Gen {hardware}, software program, and AI-powered instruments that elevate creative expression.
- Modern and Interactive Media: Applied sciences and platforms reshaping how content material is created, consumed, and monetized.
- Neighborhood and Collaboration: New methods for artists, followers, and creators to attach, co-create, and construct sustainable careers.
- Empowerment and Entryibility: Technological improvements in schooling and well-being by means of immersive experiences.
“By the twin method of funding and collaboration, we goal to foster the event of the music leisure business in a fashion distinctive of Yamaha, help the expansion of startups, and understand our mission, ‘The Properly-being of Folks across the World’,” Sugino mentioned.Music Enterprise Worldwide
