Ticketing platform Dice has raised up to to $122 million in Series C funding in a round was led by new investor, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with follow on investments from Tony Fadell’s Future Shape, Blisce, French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, Mirabaud Private Equity, Cassius and Evolution.
“We believe DICE’s technology has the capacity to transform the future of live entertainment,” said Yanni Pipilis, Managing Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Alongside the flexibility and security of seamless ticketing, the platform connects fans, artists and venues in a completely new way… We are excited to partner with DICE to help create remarkable event experiences for fans all over the world.”
According to the announcement, Dice will use the funding to “significantly grow the company by expanding reach to artists, fans and venues, while hiring new team members, adding to its live stream offering, and launching an ambitious artist development program that will see the platform work with even more artists directly on their live strategy.”
“Dice is rewiring the live experiences industry. We have proven that if you treat fans well, they go out more,” said founder-CEO Phil Hutcheon. “We’re overhauling an unfair, inefficient system by pioneering a transparent, data-led, fan-first approach – building a scalable ecosystem that helps artists, promoters and venues thrive. To have SoftBank as a partner enables us to expand into every market.”
Tony Fadell, iPod inventor and iPhone co-inventor, is joining the Dice board to support further platform development and expansion into venues.
+ Warner Music Group and Twitch have announced a “first-of-its-kind” partnership that will see the companies launch various recording artist channels and create a standalone music space featuring premium music-centric programming. The deal marks Twitch’s first partnership with a major record company, bringing users ways to interact with music-related content on the service, and granting artists a more direct connection with fans.
Additionally, Twitch has created a new process that participating music rights holders, including WMG, can opt into to report certain uses of their music, to address when creators inadvertently or incidentally use music in their streams. This comes in tandem with last weeks’ announcement of an arrangement between Twitch and the National Music Publishers Association that falls short of a licensing agreement but apparently calms the longstanding tensions between the two entities.
Oana Ruxandra, Chief Digital Officer and EVP, Business Development, WMG said: ”It’s clear that Twitch is an indispensable space for all types of creators to connect with their fan communities. Our partnership creates an on-ramp for artists to come onto the service with strong support from Twitch, opening up an entirely new source of incremental revenue. Between the artist-specific channels and the premium shows we’re planning to launch, music lovers will get a refreshing new view into the world of music and the lives of their favorite artists.”
Tracy Chan, VP, Head of Music, Twitch added: “Twitch has always been – and will continue to be – creator first. For fans, artists and all creators, this is a great step forward. The myriad opportunities for fans and artists to forge meaningful, direct and valued relationships on Twitch continue to expand every day. Working together, we can create new paradigms and opportunities for artists and the Twitch community, all grounded in the passion of fans. We appreciate the progressive approach of our colleagues at Warner Music and look forward to a productive partnership.”
The partnership with Warner Music Group’s recorded music business will see the launch of WMG artist channels, including Warner Records artists Bella Poarch and Saweetie and Atlantic Records’ singer/producer Sueco.