Podcast startup Auddy has raised £2.5 million investment.
The London company was founded by former Virgin executive and Virgin Radio International founder Andrew Craissati in 2020 with senior executives from Netflix, Warner Music and EMI.
The round was led by Pembroke VCT, which invested £1.8m, and was supported by existing investors Haatch Ventures and Brick Capital Ventures.
Drawing on an illustrious career in audio and media for organisations such as Universal Studios and National Geographic, Craissati recognised the challenges faced by advertisers, brands and organisations in their quest for podcast solutions across advertisement sales, distribution, production and private podcast solutions.
Auddy operates three main revenue streams: selling advertising inventory for leading podcasts in the UK and European markets; producing original podcasts for brands such as Selfridges, Fenwick’s, Soho House and Greenpeace; and a ‘private podcasting’ service that provides an end-to-end solution which offers an organisation the ability to share audio content directly with a targeted community in a private environment.
With over 4,000 podcast shows, 12m monthly downloads and a historical 11m downloads in the UK alone, Auddy’s podcasts include popular titles such as Science-ish, Inside the Tour and Smoke Screen.
The investment will help support Auddy to continue its organic growth and further invest in both technology and content. The market for podcasting is among the world’s fastest growing content-based industries, with over 23m UK weekly listeners.
Researchers consistently forecast over 25% yearly industry growth through to 2028 and beyond, courtesy of advances in content investment, a growth in listeners and time spent consuming podcasts.
“Auddy offers a unique and exciting prospect to businesses looking to use audio as a core part of their communications toolset and is poised to take advantage of surging growth in the podcasting sector over the coming years,” said Simon Porter, investment director at Pembroke Investment Managers LLP.
“We look forward to working closely with Andrew and his brilliant team to help Auddy achieve its ambitions in the years ahead.”