MUSO, a London-based data company that tracks global piracy and unlicensed media consumption, has received a £3.2 million ($3.9m) investment from UK-based Puma Private Equity.
MUSO’s services are used by the likes of Amazon Studios, National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), NOS, Lionsgate, MNRK (formally eOne Music), Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, and more.
MUSO claims that its technology measures hundreds of billions of visits to Piracy websites each year and provides consumption and audience data that allows rights holders “to protect their content from Piracy but also increase their revenues”.
The company says the investment will support the establishment of its marketing function and larger build out of its sales teams in both the United Kingdom and United States.
MUSO previously raised £2.5m ($3.2m) in Series A funding from Harwell Capital in 2017.
in 2019, MUSO raised £3.5 million in an extension to its £2.5 million 2017 Series A with Harwell Capital.
The new investment comes at the same time that MUSO reports to have seen a 25% increase in general digital piracy year-on-year, when comparing H1 of 2021 to H1 of 2022.
“We’re pleased to have completed our investment in MUSO, as we believe the business shows significant growth potential.”
Harriet Rosethorn, Puma Private Equity
Harriet Rosethorn, Investment Manager at Puma Private Equity, said: “We’re pleased to have completed our investment in MUSO, as we believe the business shows significant growth potential.
“As on-demand streaming platforms grow and drive a fragmentation of content distribution, global firms like MUSO will play an increasingly important role in monitoring and tackling piracy.
“This deal is just the latest example of Puma Private Equity’s long track record of supporting companies with untapped growth potential. We look forward to working closely with the team to achieve their goals.”
“Piracy remains a significant issue for the entertainment industry, but MUSO’s data enables companies to use it to discover vast, valuable as up to now, unseen audiences.”
Andy Chatterley, MUSO
Andy Chatterley, Chief Executive Officer of MUSO, said: “Piracy remains a significant issue for the entertainment industry, but MUSO’s data enables companies to use it to discover vast, valuable as up to now, unseen audiences.
“Our customers are using our data to acquire and commission content, unlock new marketing opportunities, leverage value in licensing negotiations, maximize and optimize windowing strategies.
“MUSO is a game-changer to the entertainment industry’s approach to piracy. We are turning the tables on two decades of losses and creating value-driven opportunities from this challenging inevitability of digital consumption.
He added: “This investment from Puma Private Equity comes at an incredibly transformative time for MUSO.
“Piracy continues to be a major problem for rights holders and we are committed to implementing new strategies that allow us to not only protect content but to provide increased commercial value by measuring understanding and activating our audience data.
“We will be deploying this investment into expanding our sales and marketing teams and activities to highlight MUSO’s valuable products and data to the global entertainment industries.”Music Business Worldwide
