London-based artist marketing and promotion platform un:hurd has completed a “seven-figure” investment round, just months after securing a strategic investment from EMPIRE.
The latest round saw reinvestment from existing investors including Kobalt Music Founder & Chairman WillardAhdritz, Trapital’s Dan Runcie, HazelSavage and Leansquare VC. un:hurd also attracted new investors including Mindset Ventures Music Tech.
The company, which provides marketing automation tools for independent artists and record labels, did not disclose the exact funding amount beyond confirming it reached seven figures (somewhere between $1 million and over $9 million).
un:hurd’s platform automates advertising campaigns across Spotify, TikTok, YouTube and Meta. The service also offers playlist pitching tools, release planning features and content generation capabilities. The company says its user base has grown to more than 185,000 artists and labels.
Recent campaigns handled through the platform include work with UK group The K‘s, whose album reached No. 1 on local charts, and producer Fraser T Smith‘s Future Utopia project. The company also supported the relaunch of British rapper Tinie Tempah‘s global career.
The funding comes as un:hurd prepares to expand its service, launching on the Google Play store for Android users in November.
The company has also announced partnerships with music distribution services Amuse and KOSIGN, as well as concert discovery platform Bandsintown, to reach additional artists through 2025 and beyond.
un:hurd recently introduced a financing program called Artist Deals, which provides marketing advances to select artists that have been identified by un:hurd’s technology as “high potential.”
“The team have spent the last two years working intently on building proprietary statistical models which reduce uncertainty for artists when it comes to music marketing decisions.”
Alex Brees, un:hurd
The company also hinted at the upcoming launch of its statistical attribution engine, which has been in development for two years. The system analyzes data from “tens of thousands of artists” to explain why specific numbers rise or fall and suggest personalized marketing actions.
AlexBrees, CEO and founder of un:hurd, said: “The team have spent the last two years working intently on building proprietary statistical models which reduce uncertainty for artists when it comes to music marketing decisions.
“The beating heart of our business has always been how we leverage data to help artists and labels make smarter decisions and this is about to become exponentially more powerful and scalable.”
The latest investment comes eight months after San Francisco-based independent label, distribution and publishing company EMPIREinvested in un:hurd as part of the company’s ongoing fundraise at the time.
Last year, un:hurd announced a “six-figure” strategic funding round that included investments from Nigerian artist/record exec Mr Eazi, Dutch DJ/producer SamFeldt, and Kobalt’s Willard Ahdritz, who also led a “seven-figure” funding round for un:hurd in 2023.
