Willard Ahdritz launches bold $20 million music tech fund
Kobalt co-founder Willard Ahdritz has launched Ahdritz Capital Partners, a New York-based fund that invests in music and media technology companies, and named Isabel Keulen its newest investment partner, Billboard reported Thursday, Oct. 1.
Willard Ahdritz led Kobalt as CEO for 20 years and later served as chairman. During that time, he managed $1.7 billion in music assets and helped route $10 billion to $12 billion in funds to creators, according to Billboard. He left the chairman’s role after Primary Wave’s purchase of Kobalt closed in July.
Who is joining Willard Ahdritz
Keulen, who is based in Sweden, previously ran SSE Business Lab, the startup incubator at the Stockholm School of Economics, and its early-stage fund, SSE Ventures. Earlier, she was a principal at Spintop Ventures, which invests in young tech companies.
She is the firm’s second major hire. Stephen Langer joined in May after working in Lazard’s Media, Entertainment & Sports group, where he helped build its music mergers and acquisitions business. Lazard advised Primary Wave on the Kobalt deal, Billboard noted.
“[Ahdritz] has spent 25 years proving that backing creators and founders on fair terms builds real, lasting companies, and he started before Sweden even had a unicorn,” Keulen said in a statement. A unicorn is a startup valued at more than $1 billion.
“It’s been incredible to work alongside Willard, an innovator in our industry, and build ACP with him the last few months,” Langer said.
What Ahdritz Capital Partners invests in
The fund’s goal is to help companies from outside the U.S. break into the American market and other major markets. It offers introductions, resources and hands-on support from its New York headquarters.
“Twice I have been out on the street in New York pitching my own start-up, so I know firsthand how hard it is to land on a new continent and build the operations and network from nothing,” Willard Ahdritz said. “To be big globally, you have to be big in the U.S.”
The $20 million fund has already invested in Madverse Music Group, a New Delhi-based distributor for independent artists, and the superfan platform Even. Its other holdings include Fever, Soundtrack, un:hurd music, Telly, Sweet, SCOR and Airspot, Billboard reported. Willard Ahdritz said Keulen will strengthen the firm’s search for AI-focused startups.
Willard Ahdritz and the Kobalt sale
Ahdritz founded Kobalt about 25 years ago on the belief that “creators deserved better,” he said when the sale was announced in March, Deadline reported. Kobalt’s roster includes Max Martin, Phoebe Bridgers, Foo Fighters and Paul McCartney, and the company typically accounts for about 35 percent of the top songs and albums each year in the U.S. and U.K., according to Deadline.
Published reports valued Kobalt’s publishing rights at about $1.5 billion. Primary Wave bought the company from Francisco Partners in a deal that created a music company worth about $7 billion, Variety reported.
For more on the business side of music, read about Jermaine Dupri’s royalty fight with Sony Music and the flood of AI-generated music, or visit our music section.