Artelize, a platform for the world of the performing arts, has closed a pre-seed funding round of €1 million. The investment round will support Artelize through its next phase as it aims to support artists and arts organizations still struggling to gain visibility and attract a new and diverse audience for their events and concerts.
The €1 million investment round has been led by Bjørn Bruun, Founder of Danish fashion brand Bruuns Bazaar and active angel investor. Bruun has been supported by a range of investors including early-stage VC investor Peter Jakobsen of Human Act Development. A group of other angel investors also participated.
Artelize also received a Government grant from the Danish Innobooster Programme, and a loan facility from the Danish Export and Investment Fund, as part of the round. The investment follows an initial round with the founders of Tesla, Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard, that raised €350k.
Sune Hjerrild, Founder & CEO, Artelize, said: “Our investors clearly recognise the importance of our mission to transform the way artists and producers connect with existing and new fans. It’s increasingly important for artists to have a strong online presence in order for them to be able to promote themselves and their concerts. But the problem is that the lives of artists can be highly focused on rehearsal time which often requires 100% of their concentration. With the mobile-friendly features of Career Booster, it’s really easy for artists to prepare and publish posts during a free moment in the rehearsal room.”
Artelize was launched in 2022 by founders Sune Hjerrild, Paola Cacciatori, Peter Somogyi, and Jan Pilgaard Carlsen – a group of former artists, serial entrepreneurs, and technologists. Artelize uses AI to automatically collect information about concerts and events in opera and classical music, ballet and dance, musicals, spoken theatre, and jazz. It creates performer and event pages that artists and presenters can then use to promote themselves. The platform currently features 24,000 upcoming events and 29,000 artists, primarily focused on the US market. However, the funding will enable Artelize to also expand into the UK and Europe.
The new technology just launched in 2024 builds on Artelize’s legacy by offering a mobile-friendly app that combines relevant information from the database with an AI text generator. This allows artists and producers to quickly create posts that promote their forthcoming events on social media like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. If a performer has no forthcoming concerts, they can instead share highlights from previous concerts.
Angel investor Bjørn Bruun and VC investor Peter Jacobsen, commented: “Our investment in Artelize is driven by our confidence in their advanced technical capabilities and the rich artistic experience of their founders. These elements are key to Artelize’s mission to redefine the Performing Arts sector, particularly through their innovative tools for career development and audience engagement. We believe that Artelize’s unique blend of technology and artistic insight will greatly expand global access for both artists and organizers, ushering in a new era of connectivity and creativity in the global artistic community.”
By using the Artelize Career Booster, artists can present themselves as active and successful musicians in a consistent and professional way. With a minimum effort, this enables them to engage in ‘career hacking’, incrementally building their careers to get out of the ‘rehearsal room trap’.
Artelize builds a larger audience by tapping into the increasingly agnostic and experimental nature of concert-goers. By providing a single view of all concerts in opera and classical music, ballet and dance, musicals, spoken theatre, and jazz. By breaking down the barriers and providing the broadest access to music and theatre in one place. The platform now provides even more opportunities for arts organizations to reach the widest possible audience.
Career Booster is free to artists for up to two social media posts per month, after which they can upgrade to the budget-friendly pro-tier from $10 USD per month. The next iteration of Artelize’s audience-building tools is planned for launch in early 2024 to further support arts organizations in their audience development and engagement.
