Podcasts are steadily growing, with 550,000 podcasts now active in over 100 languages, and 18.5 million episodes available online.
French startup Majelan plans to take advantage of this increasing popularity with its new platform which it bills the “Netflix of podcasts”. The startup has just completed a €4 million round led by Idinvest Partners, with participation from business angels including Jacques Veyrat from Impala, Xavier Niel, and Fabrice Larue.
Founded Mathieu Gallet, the former CEO of Radio France, and Arthur Perticoz, Majelan aims to offer an enhanced listening experience through personalised recommendation and curation using algorithms. The startup plans to launch its mobile app in spring 2019, which will be available in several languages.
Gallet said: “Majelan is a platform that will allow you to find and discover audio content, categorized by theme and according to current events.
“Podcasts are growing in popularity in France, with more than 4 million people in France listening each month, a 25% increase over last year. In the United States, where this market is more advanced, 73 million Americans already use podcasts every month.”
Part of the application will be free, aggregating podcasts already available on other platforms in France, while the paid version will be available for €4.99 per month and offer exclusive content. The startup also plans to create its own studios to produce its own podcasts.
