Music tech company with 350 self-service recording studios worldwide raises $20m

Music tech company Pirate Studios has secured a multi-million pound investment from London-based venture capital firm Talis Capital.

Pirate Studios will use the $20m (c.£15.4m) funding to continue its rapid expansion across the UK, Germany and US.

The firm operates fully automated self-service, 24-hour music studios. Its platform offers online booking, 24-hour keycode access, automated recording, live streaming and complete control of its studio spaces through Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Pirate said the model has enabled it increase opening hours and decrease costs for musicians.

The company started out at an abandoned police station in Bristol, where co-founders David Borrie and Mikey Hammerton worked with friend Fred Wyatt to build a rehearsal studio.

The space was offered to bands on a time-share basis, and as the operation grew, David and Mikey developed the business into an hourly rental, self-service music studio.

They worked on the concept with Matus Maar of Talis Capital, who joined David and Mikey as a co-founder and introduced them to the venture capital firm. Talis has funded the expansion since, and in three years, Pirate has grown to encompass 350 studios in 21 locations, including sites in London, New York and Berlin.

CEO David Borrie said: “When we founded Pirate Studios our dream was to create innovative spaces to support emerging talent.

“We want to see music thrive and help musicians get their music out to their fans, through whatever route they think is most appropriate.”

He continued: “We are building both the physical space to create, as well as the technology to record and share, that puts power back into the hands of musicians in a period when the digitisation of music continues to radically upset the old order of this industry.”

In addition to the funding from Talis Capital, Pirate is backed by a syndicate of high-profile investors that includes Eric Archambeau, Spotify investor and former partner at Benchmark & Wellington Partners; Bart Swanson, advisor at Horizons Ventures; and partners of Gaw Capital, the $20bn creative proptech fund headquartered in Hong Kong.

Pirate Studios executive chairman Matus Maar commented: “The music industry has changed fundamentally. Distribution was previously controlled by the major record labels, preventing the majority of artists from sharing their content.

“Pirate Studios has unpicked that hegemony and is putting the power back in artists’ hands, unlocking a significant and largely untapped market opportunity. We greatly look forward to continuing to partner with David and the team to make this vision a reality.”

Following the fundraise, investor Eric Archambeau will join David Borrie, Matus Maar and Bart Swanson on the Pirate Studios board.

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