High Alpha Capital and leading SaaS angel investors invest in seed round
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — (October 7, 2020) — Focused on the unique needs of artists and venues today, Mandolin is a digital platform designed to help artists, venues, and fans connect through live music. Fueled by recent wins, Mandolin has announced a $5 million seed round to accelerate growth, with participation from High Alpha Capital, Marc Benioff, and leading SaaS angel investors with a personal passion for seeing live music return to the stage.
Since forming the company in June 2020, Mandolin has helped artists, management teams, and venues across all genres. Just recently, Mandolin was named as the exclusive livestream provider for the #iVoted Election Day 2020 festival, the largest single-day digital concert on record, all in support of voter turnout. In September, Mandolin signed a two-year partnership deal with the iconic City Winery network of venues, and in August, a partnership with Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium for the first-ever ‘Live at The Ryman’ livestream experience.
“The new version of live continues to evolve and reveal itself. We’re in an all-digital world, and there’s no going back,” said Mary Kay Huse, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Mandolin. “But Mandolin has a way forward—a way to bring people back together and live music back to the stage, whether we’re in the same room or reaching out across the globe. Our journey to redefine live entertainment is real, and we have the digital know-how to make the music industry even more resilient for this new normal.”
“We created this platform to bring artists and fans together. Like many industries before it, the music business is going through massive disruption and musicians need to build digital-first businesses to thrive. It’s inspiring to help artists do what they do best—play shows and connect with fans,” said Eric Tobias, Partner at High Alpha. “Mary Kay is a brilliant, highly-dynamic leader. Her ability to build and scale software, to accelerate revenue growth, and to inspire organizational greatness, at a global level, is unmatched. We look forward to seeing what she can do.”
The best audio-visual livestream solution on the market, Mandolin has a clear vision for recreating the excitement of live entertainment and the sense of community fans share by pushing the boundaries of traditional livestream technology. Notable product features include artist meet & greet experiences; public and private chat; embedded, limited-edition merch tables; watch parties and ticket sharing; custom emoji reactions; and charity and donation collection capabilities.
Mandolin is the 18th company to launch out of High Alpha’s venture studio. Prior to co-founding Mandolin, CEO Mary Kay Huse served as EVP & Chief Operating Officer, Marketing Cloud at Salesforce and ExactTarget.
About Mandolin:
Mandolin helps artists and venues create connections with fans and prosper through the music they produce. We intentionally push the boundaries of livestream, giving artists the right tools to create content, share it widely, and then better understand how fans engage. Mandolin gives artists the ability to build a digital strategy, all while giving fans unprecedented access to the artists they love. To learn more about how Mandolin is bringing live music back to the stage, visit mandolin.com or Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
About High Alpha:
High Alpha, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a leading venture studio focused on conceiving, launching and scaling next-generation B2B SaaS companies. For more information visit highalpha.com or follow us on Twitter @highalpha.
