Japan-headquartered music instrument and audio gear maker Yamaha has introduced a $50 million company enterprise capital fund to spend money on music and media startups.
The Yamaha Music Improvements Fund I, LP (YMIF) will start to take a position this month, the corporate mentioned in a press release on Thursday (Could 8).
Final 12 months, 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 following stage.”
The YMI fund will probably be headed up by Managing Accomplice Andrew Kahn, a veteran of the music innovation area. An alumnus of Dwell Nation, Kahn most lately 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 certainly one of “Music’s High Buyers 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 inventive 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 will probably be:
- Artistic Instruments and Infrastructure: Subsequent-Gen {hardware}, software program, and AI-powered instruments that elevate creative expression.
- Revolutionary 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 training and well-being by means of immersive experiences.
“By the twin strategy of funding and collaboration, we goal to foster the event of the music leisure business in a fashion distinctive of Yamaha, assist the expansion of startups, and understand our mission, ‘The Nicely-being of Individuals across the World’,” Sugino mentioned.Music Enterprise Worldwide
