Kobalt announced today that Bill Maris, founder and CEO of Google Ventures and one of the more prominent venture capitalists in tech, has joined the independent music company's board of directors. As a first step, Maris' new venture capital fund Section 32 added a $14 million cherry atop Kobalt's previously announced Series D round of funding, bringing that total amount to $89 million.
“Bill is one of the most important investors and leaders in the tech community,” said Willard Ahdritz, Founder & CEO of Kobalt. “Having him join our board is not only a great moment for Kobalt but also for the music industry that needs more tech experience. He’s been with us since 2014 and is now doubling down to help us see through our mission of bringing the music industry into the digital age."
Announced in May, the $75 million Series D round was led by Hearst Entertainment, Balderton Capital and MSD Capital. At the time the company said the added capital would be used to further scale the firm's creative teams and scale its services to its artists, songwriters, publishers and label clients; invest in R&D for future tech products to support music creators; and to handle the surge in streaming.