Sounder, an Audio Intelligence platform that helps independent creators and large media publishers accelerate the discovery, engagement, and monetization of their audio content, announced its Series A funding of $7.7M today. Participating in the round include new investors iHeartMedia, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, Diverse Angels, and Adventure Fund and existing investors Xoogler.co Syndicate. With today’s announcement, Sounder’s total funding to date has reached $11.55M million.

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Sounder’s AI and ML technology changes the way audio content is found, experienced and made profitable. The company’s Audio Data Cloud brings valuable new datasets and tools to content creators and media publishers, including brand safety and brand suitability analysis, topic analysis, content summarization, and dynamic segmentation. These solutions increase the quantity of inventory available for targeted audio advertising.

This round of funding comes at a time when Sounder is seeing significant and ongoing growth. The business closed the fourth quarter of 2021 with streams up more than 200% and revenue up more than 100% Y/Y.

“There’s been a technology void that, until now, had not been accessible by most in the audio industry,” Sounder CEO and Co-founder Kal Amin explained. “AI, Machine Learning, and natural language processing will continue to accelerate the revenue potential for audio, and we are at the forefront of these innovations. This is not just a defining moment for Sounder, but for the entire audio industry.”

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Series A funding will enable Sounder to expand its research and development team to build AI and ML-powered tools that drive growth for audio creators. The company also plans to build a complete ad system that supports publishers and advertisers of all sizes. This will reimagine the ad tech stack for the audio industry.

Founded by former Google and Spotify executives, Sounder provides a suite of tools that allow independent creators to seamlessly manage, grow, track, and monetize their content while helping media publishers unlock advertising revenue, drive discovery, and deepen audience engagement. Rooted in the belief that audio content can drive change, Sounder aims to support a diverse and open ecosystem of creators and publishers empowered through technology.

Growth in podcasting continues to accelerate. While podcasting has been around since 2004, 63% of all podcasts have been created since January 2020. Podcast advertising, too, continues to accelerate.

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