One of the biggest brands in the music business has led a $2 million seed investment in Artiphon, the local maker of a multifaceted instrument aimed at novices and pros alike.
Warner Music Group has committed an undisclosed amount from the WMG Boost fund it launched last year and was joined in its investment by “a group of Nashville-based angels,” Artiphon officials said in a statement. The local company, which was founded in 2011 and four years later raised more than $1.3 million via a Kickstarter campaign, also has raised capital from AOL co-founder Steve Case and others.
Artiphon CEO Mike Butera and his team have developed their Instrument 1 to plug into a range of software programs and let users play it as they would a guitar, violin, piano or drum set. The Instrument 1 sells for $399.
“As true innovators in music creativity, Artiphon is a strong example of the types of companies and products we seek to support,” Jeff Bronikowski, a senior vice president and head of innovation and emerging technology at Warner, said in a statement. “They’ve already expanded the concept of the musical instrument as a smart, connected device and we’re excited to help them drive the future of interactive music.”
In its statement, Artiphon also said it has in the past few months hired chief revenue officer Doug Provisor and director of products Neal Chapman. Provisor is based in the San Francisco area and previously was CEO of marketing group Blue Marble Agency and senior VP of sales and marketing at Propellerhead Software. Chapman also owns a Seattle custom fabrication and design shop and earlier this decade worked on the engineering team at SpaceX.
