Germany’s Cyanite tunes in with €800,000 to connect everyone with the right music

At a time when Berlin-based SoundCloud is reducing workforce once again and Sweden's audio streaming platform Spotify losses have widened despite the increase in subscription rate, German music AI startup Cyanite has closed an €800,000 seed round with leading entrepreneurs from the music and technology industries to expand its AI-based solution for the music industry.

The funding was led by former finetunes founders Oke Göttlich and Henning Thieß. Other experienced music and tech experts such as Michael Shmilov (former COO of Viber), Patrick Joest (former EVP of global content partnerships and sync at BMG) and Lars Ettrup (CEO and co-founder of Linkfire) backed the round, too. In addition, family office Lioncorn Capital and other angel investors, including Daniel Kondermann, Oliver Lesche, Andrea Kranzer, Edmund Ahrend invested in this round.

Founded in 2019, the Berlin and Mannheim-based platform aim to provide the entertainment and advertising industries with an AI-powered universal music intelligence capable of finding the objectively appropriate music for any desired emotional target - be it for advertising, movies, podcasts, or playlists. Cyanite allows music rights holders, music tech companies, and brand agencies to take control by offering AI solutions that provide better ways to sort, search, and match songs.

Markus Schwarzer, CEO of Cyanite, said: “The investment demonstrates the excitement in the worlds of music and technology about our objective of making it possible for any input – be it keywords, sounds, free text, or images – to be understood by AI and translated into music. When competing companies are being bought out, we're excited to continue our journey towards creating a universal intelligence that understands, indexes and recommends the world's music.”

Many of the company’s competitors such as Musimap, Musiio, and Musicube have been acquired by larger companies in the recent past.

Investment round leader Oke Göttlich, former finetunes founder, said: “I am excited to be a part of Cyanite's future. They have the right team and a strong plan for the future that has the potential to shape the music recommendation of tomorrow.”