Horizons Ventures focuses on investing in disruptive and technology-focused start-ups. The firm was founded in 1999 and is based in Hong Kong. Some of the latest exits are Skype, Siri, Facebook, Summly, and Waze.

Horizons Ventures

Wellington Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences companies, focusing on Digital Media, Software, Electronics & Photonics, Resource Efficiency, and Biotech/Life Sciences. It is committed to providing outstanding entrepreneurs with the necessary resources to fund their strategies. We typically lead financing rounds ranging from € 0.5 million to € 20 million. Depending on the maturity of the company, its own commitment can go as high as € 15 million. Wellington was established in 1998 and has offices in Munich, London, and Zurich.

Wellington Partners

Northzone is a multi-stage venture capital fund that seeks to invest in the healthcare, semiconductors, software, hardware, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and gaming industries.

Northzone

Creandum is a leading European early-stage venture capital firm backing some of Europe's most successful tech companies including Spotify, iZettle, Depop, Klarna, KRY, Epidemic Sound and Small Giant Games. Creandum has offices in Stockholm, Berlin, London and San Francisco.

Creandum

Founders Fund is a venture capital firm that invests at every stage in companies building revolutionary technologies. It has been investors, founders, and early employees of prominent technology companies. It has historically invested in a wide variety of sectors, including aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet.

Founders Fund

Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that powers a global community of entrepreneurs. Accel backs entrepreneurs who have what it takes to build a business.  Accel’s vision for entrepreneurship and business enables it to identify and invest in the companies that will be responsible for the growth of next-generation industries. Accel-backed companies include Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, DJI, Dropbox, Dropcam, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, Lookout Security, MoPub, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, Vox Media, and others.

Accel

Kleiner Perkins is a venture capital firm specializing in investing in early-stage, growth, and incubation companies. The firm continues that legacy, investing in founders with bold ideas that span industries and continents, partnering with them from inception to IPO and beyond to maximize the potential of their ideas. They also focus on early computer firms using their devices and programming and service companies. It also invests in the digital, life sciences, and healthcare industries.

Kleiner Perkins

DST Global is an investment firm that focuses on late-stage ventures in the Internet sector. The firm has invested in several rapidly growing companies. Its offices are in Menlo Park, New York, London, Beijing, and Hong Kong. The firm was founded in 2009 by Yuri Milner, Saurabh Gupta, John Lindfors, Rahul Mehta, and Tom Stafford.

DST Global

Access Technology Ventures is a $2+ billion venture capital and growth technology investment effort of Access Industries, a privately held, US-based industrial group with global strategic investments of $20+ billion. The firm operates as a subsidiary of Access Industries and prefers to invest in firms operating in the technology sector. Its portfolio includes technology companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, Digital Ocean, Facebook, Opendoor, PinDuoDuo, Snap, Square, and Tencent Music.

Access Technology Ventures

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services, as well as financial services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Its Investment Banking segment offers financial advisory services, including advisory assignments concerning mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense, risk management, and restructurings and spin-offs; and underwriting services comprising public offerings and private placements of a range of securities, loans, and other financial instruments, and derivative transactions. The company’s Institutional Client Services segment provides client execution services, such as fixed income, currency, and commodities client execution related to making markets in interest rate products, credit products, mortgages, currencies, and commodities; and equities related to making markets in equity products, as well as executes and clears institutional client transactions on stock, options, and futures exchanges. This segment also engages in the securities services business providing financing, securities lending, and other brokerage services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, and foundations. Its Investing and Lending segment originates longer-term loans; and invests in debt securities, loans, public and private equity securities, real estate, consolidated investment entities, distressed assets, currencies, commodities, and power generation facilities. The company’s investment management segment provides investment products and services, as well as offers wealth advisory services, including portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services.

Goldman Sachs

Fidelity is a privately owned investment management firm that serves a wide range of clients. It offers services including IRAs, rollovers, annuities, discount brokerage, retirement planning, estate planning, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, and life insurance. They serve individual investors, businesses, financial advisors, and institutions. The firm manages equity, fixed-income, and balanced mutual funds and invests in public equity and fixed-income markets. It also conducts in-house research to inform its investment decisions.

Fidelity

The Coca-Cola Company is a beverage company that markets, manufactures, and sells beverage concentrates, syrups, and finished beverages including sparkling soft drinks, water, sports drinks, juice, dairy, plant-based drinks, and tea and coffee. They also provide flavoring ingredients, sweeteners, beverage ingredients, and fountain syrups as well as powders for purified water products.

The Coca-Cola Company

137 Ventures is a San Francisco-based growth-stage venture firm with an innovative investing model. The fund has a flexible mandate with an emphasis on structured transactions with founders, senior executives, early investors and early employees at venture-backed companies with proven business models. With more than $850 million of assets under management, the firm invests in companies across a broad range of areas including: space exploration, digital health, financial technology, enterprise SaaS, and consumer internet.

137 Ventures

Lakestar is a venture capital firm investing in technology companies led by exceptional entrepreneurs. Early investments included Skype, Spotify, Facebook, and Airbnb. Since raising the first fund in 2013, Lakestar manages an aggregated volume of over EUR 1bn across three early-stage funds, and more recently a growth fund.  The company has expanded and broadened its portfolio and holds investments in the likes of Opendoor, Oscar, GetYourGuide, Glovo, Sender, Eigen, Five, Revolut, and Hometogo to name a few. Lakestar has a presence in Berlin, Zurich, and London. Lakestar helps companies to identify new markets and expand into them rapidly, with a focus on the US and Europe. The team advises and supports portfolio companies in business development, recruitment, technology, and marketing. The investments range from early-stage companies to those in their growth stage.

Lakestar

The mission of AF Square is to discover companies whose business model disrupts the status quo.  We seek partnerships with companies that will benefit from our decades of experience and connections in a wide array of industries -- from Entertainment to Technology to Finance to Sports to Politics.  AF Square, partnered with [Atom Factory](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/atom-factory) provides an extra boost of expertise and counsel to help companies reach key people, reach more customers, and reach new goals.

AFSquare

Hedosophia is a global investment firm supporting category-defining technology companies. The company is based in London, England, United Kingdom.

Hedosophia

TCV provides capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. It also provides management teams with data-driven insights, sector expertise, access to world-class talent, and connections with category leaders.  Founded in 1995, the Silicon Valley-headquartered firm has invested more than $14 billion in over 350 growth-stage technology companies to date. Some of its most prominent portfolio company exits include Airbnb, Facebook, Netflix, Peloton, and Zillow.

Gibraltar Ventures is a Toronto-based venture investment firm. Founded in 2013, we invest in private, early to mid- stage technology-based companies catering to consumers and small to medium-sized businesses — the B2C and B2SMB space. We do more than simply invest — our business purpose is to supply intellectual capital designed to accelerate a company’s speed-to-market. Specifically, we provide portfolio companies with: (1) sales & marketing expertise to execute “go-to-market” strategies; (2) access to senior corporate decision makers to open up new channels and speed decision-making; and (3) capital in the critical Series “A” and “B” rounds of funding to accelerate growth.

Gibraltar Ventures

Goldman Sachs Investment Partners is a global team of professionals from a wide range of backgrounds with one common goal—driving technology-based disruption. They have invested more than $6 billion in over 100 late-stage venture capital and growth equity transactions since 2003. They are dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs around the world to build revolutionary businesses.

Goldman Sachs Investment Partners

The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than 1,300 employees; approximately $35 billion in aggregate investment capital as of January 1, 2008; and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.

D. E. Shaw & Co.

Telia Company AB is a provider of mobile, broadband, and fixed telecommunication services, including telephony, data, and TV services.Telia Company is a Swedish dominant telephone company and mobile network operator. The company serves 25 million customers across the Nordic and Baltic region with essential digital infrastructure and digital services.

Telia Company

Discovery Capital is a venture capital firm specializing in early and growth stage investments. It seeks to invest in information technology with a focus on hardware and software companies, communications sector that includes mobile technology that includes wireless and networking solutions, new media, health and life sciences focused on biotechnology, environmental and energy technology, water purification, electric power by wind energy and solar energy, and other advanced technologies focused on hardware and software, industrial, alternative energy, energy-saving technology solutions, and clean technology solutions investments.  Discovery Capital seeks to invest in companies based in British Columbia. It also provides capital for follow-on investments. It will invest in eligible small businesses that qualify under the Small Business Venture Capital Act.  Discover Capital invests in those firm in which their business, together with affiliates, must have less than 100 employees at the time of their initial investment. It may make additional investments if the employment level grows beyond 100.  Also, their business must pay at least 75% of its wages and salaries to B.C. employees. This may be reduced to 50% if their business is engaged in the export of goods or services outside B. C. It prefers to have successful exits by way of initial public offerings and sales of portfolio companies.  John McEwen and Harry Jaako founded Discovery Capital in 1986. It has its headquarters in British Columbia in Canada.

Discovery Capital

GP Bullhound is a technology advisory and investment firm that provides transaction advice and capital to entrepreneurs and founders. As dealmakers in technology, GP Bullhound provides independent strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions and private placements to entrepreneurs, companies, and investors. By combining a true passion for innovation with great access to global buyers and capital across Europe, the US, and Asia, GP Bullhound has completed transactions with many category leaders including Avito, Delivery Hero, Fjord, King.com, Pingdom, Pozitron, and Spotify. Founded in 1999 in London and Menlo Park, the firm today has 10 offices spanning Europe, the US and Asia. Their passion for technology, their financial acumen, and their understanding of the entrepreneur’s journey differentiate their advice from other investment banks. They help exceptional people build exceptional businesses to create more billion-dollar technology companies worldwide.

GP Bullhound

Lansdowne Partners is an alternative investment management firm that focused on equity portfolios. Founded in 1998, the company manages assets for a diversified institutional client base that includes some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated investors. Lansdowne Partners was founded in 1998 and is based in London, England.

Lansdowne Partners

Founded in 2001, Balyasny Asset Management (BAM) is a global asset management firm dedicated to delivering consistent, uncorrelated absolute returns in all market environments. BAM's disciplined investment approach focuses on true alpha generation by combining a deep fundamental research team with an active risk management culture. The firm has offices in the United States, London & Hong Kong with more than 500 employees representing greater than 45 countries.

Balyasny Asset Management

Asset Management Partners is a Switzerland-based asset management firm offering wealth management and investment advisory services.

Asset Management Partners

KG Investments is a private family office fund focused on investing in technology companies through direct investments and secondary loans. This approach is guided by its extensive background of building and investing in technology-related companies over the last 20 years.KG Investments also invests in uncorrelated professionally managed Hedge & Private Equity funds as a Limited Partner looking for unique differentiated opportunities.  It was founded in 2006 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

KG Investments

Baillie Gifford is an independently owned investment management firm. It is owned and run by 39 of its senior executives, who operate as a partnership, a structure that has endured for over a century and provides stability for clients and motivation for employees. It enables them to manage the business for the future as well as the present, with an emphasis on genuine long-term thinking rather than lurching haplessly between short-term targets.

Baillie Gifford

SuRo Capital (Nasdaq: SSSS, formerly known as GSV Capital) is a publicly-traded fund that seeks to invest in high-growth, venture-backed private companies. The firm primarily seeks to invest in social mobile, sustainability, cloud computing, big data, marketplaces, and education sectors. It also seeks to create a portfolio of high-growth emerging private companies through a repeatable and disciplined investment approach, as well as to provide investors with access to such companies through its publicly traded common stock. SuRo Capital was established in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

SuRo Capital

MVP is a principal investor and advisory specializing in the secondary market for private venture-backed technology companies. MVP pioneered the institutionalization of this once-democratized asset class. Since 2010, the partners at MVP VC have been integral in the institutionalization of the Direct Secondary market. We are pioneers in this space, and the partners have collectively engaged in more than $10B of primary and secondary venture investments. Our belief is that Direct Secondaries are the evolution of the Secondary LP investing strategy established in the early 1980s and should be treated accordingly. MVP differentiates itself through its unique research and ability to streamline the secondary process by being a principal and advisory to private companies and their shareholders, as well as GPs and LPs. This is accomplished by bringing together the full expertise of our Secondary as a Service™ platform, investment banking expertise, research team, and the All-Star Funds (~$1B AUM Jan 2022).

Manhattan Venture Partners (MVP)

Dentsu Digital Holdings is a business management company that provides digital communication solutions and services. The company offers strategy solutions such as data capabilities in various industries, applications of cross-industry know-hows and experiences, and data analysis to identify strategic scenarios and KPI; planning solutions, including unified planning which combines mass media and real promotions, and digital creative agency services; and execution and operational solutions such as stable management framework, brand exposure management, and scenario revision based on a range of effectiveness measurement tools and databases. The company also provides internet advertising, advertising networks, and SEM services for agencies; marketing strategy planning, response management, support for direct businesses, and database marketing; marketing technology planning, development, and management; and digital and advertising agency, mobile marketing, online advertising, and interactive services. In addition, the company is engaged in the areas of digital marketing platforms and digital media, digital technology, social marketing, digital devices, and new business models using digital technology in Japan, East Asia, the United States, and Europe. It also manages venture capital funds, making strategic investments in the new IT-based communications domain. Dentsu Digital Holdings was founded in 2000 and is based in Tokyo, Japan. It operates as a subsidiary of Dentsu Inc.

Dentsu Digital Holdings

K2 Global is a venture capital firm based in Singapore and Miami that invests in high growth technology companies.

K2 Global

Rinkelberg Capital is an investment office that helps entrepreneurs to grow their business.

Rinkelberg Capital

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Senvest Capital operates as a holding company with interests in investment management and direct investing in public securities and private investments.  Senvest, publicly traded since 1971 and presently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, was originally founded as the exclusive Canadian licensee and distributor for US-based Sensormatic Electronics, a pioneer in anti-theft-at-retail electronic security systems.  Among other businesses acquired and operated by the company, Senvest Capital also spearheaded the development and operated one of Canada’s first cable pay-TV channels, First Choice, which it sold to a leading Canadian media company Astral Media.

Senvest Capital

Founded in 2011, G Squared is aligned with a fundamental shift: venture-backed companies stay private longer. As a result, private companies need both primary capital to continue their growth trajectory and transitional capital to provide liquidity to early investors, current and former employees, and other sellers. Positioned at the crux of this liquidity access challenge, G Squared partners with portfolio companies throughout their lifecycle using a fundamentally different approach than traditional VCs. The company invests in companies that challenge the status quo and demonstrate a clear path to superior returns, partnering with world-class entrepreneurs tackling big problems. G Squared funds have invested in household names such as 23andMe, Coursera, Instacart, Lyft, Pinterest, and Spotify, as well as in the next generation of disruptors, including Asana, Blend, Bolt, Brex, Capsule, Flexport, Impossible Foods, Toast, and Turo.

G Squared

Spotify

Doinstruct is a digital-based company with video functionality created for industry personnel onboarding and training. With the use of the company's platform, businesses can train their staff members and service providers via smartphones, throughout supply chains, and from any place, allowing all front-line personnel to participate in training at their convenience.

DistroKid is a SaaS-based musical platform for musicians, managers, and record labels. It publishes music in a range of stores and streaming applications, with the option to upload unlimited albums and songs. It also helps artists earn royalties every time other people use their music and helping audiences to buy plans at affordable prices.

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) is the largest online music entertainment platform in China, operating the top four music mobile apps in terms of mobile MAUs. Our platform comprises our online music, online karaoke and music-centric live streaming services, supported by our content offerings, technology and data. Our platform is an all-in-one music entertainment destination that allows users to seamlessly engage with music in many ways, including discovering, listening, singing, watching and socializing. On our platform, social interactions, such as sharing, liking, commenting, following and virtual gifting, are deeply integrated in our products and highly complementary to the core music experience, thereby enhancing our user experience, engagement and retention. We had over 800 million total unique MAUs in the second quarter of 2018, covering the full spectrum of user demographics in China.

Soundtrack Your Brand offers a business-to-business music platform for small business owners to create and legally play their own playlists in their venues. Unlike many personal streaming services, they include a monthly subscription option that allows businesses to play any music. They provide everything you need to play the hits, rare finds, and fan favorites that your customers and employees will enjoy. You're legal and can listen to whatever music you choose.

Spotify is a commercial music streaming service that provides restricted digital content from a range of record labels and artists. Users can browse through the interface by artist, album, genre, playlist, record label, and direct searches. It also enables individuals to create, share, and edit playlists with other users. If users want recommendations, they can integrate their system with Last.fm, an application that provides music recommendations based on listening history. The radio feature installed in Spotify creates random playlists for its users that are related to preferred artists. Spotify is available for mobile device platforms such as Android, Blackberry, Boxee, iOS, Linux, MeeGo, Squeezebox, Windows mobile, and more.

<div> Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) is a Swedish music streaming service founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. The company revolutionized the music industry by offering users access to millions of songs through a subscription-based streaming model. Spotify launched publicly in 2008 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Spotify has offices in over a dozen locations worldwide. Spotify offers both free ad-supported and paid premium subscription tiers. Its key products and services include on-demand music streaming, personalized playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks. The platform uses algorithms to provide music recommendations and create custom playlists for users. Spotify has expanded beyond music in recent years, investing heavily in podcasts and audiobooks to diversify its content offerings. The company allows users to stream content across various devices including smartphones, computers, smart speakers, and car audio systems. As of Q1 2024, Spotify reported 615 million monthly active users and 239 million premium subscribers across over 180 markets globally. The company generated EUR 13.25 billion in revenue in 2023, with 87% coming from premium subscriptions. Spotify dominates the music streaming market with a 31.7% global market share. The company has paid out over USD 40 billion in royalties to rights holders since its launch. Spotify continues to focus on user growth and improving its advertising technology to boost revenue from its free tier. The company aims to reach 1 billion users by 2030 as it expands into new markets and content verticals. </div>

Opera and Spotify partner for music streaming within Opera One browser

Giving creators the power of content monetization and audience engagement.

Creator Economy

Platforms that allow creators to share several types of content. Some platforms also offer fan engagement/ interactions with the creative artist via videos/ live streams.

Platforms that offer exclusive content to signed up members.

Platforms that allow creators to share their written works and blogs.

Platforms that provide tools to discover relevant analytics, produce content, engage with the audience, and help with the overall process.

Platforms that allow creators to share one of either videography, live streams, photos, music or audio podcasts with fan engagement capabilities.

Blockchain-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) allow creators to transfer ownership of their content via platforms that share proceeds with buyers, sellers, creators, and platforms via smart contracts.

Bringing the benefits of blockchain to the enterprise

Enterprise Blockchain Solutions

Companies that offer blockchain-based solutions that enable users and companies to track price, date, location, quality, and other relevant information for supply chain management

Companies and protocols that leverage blockchain technology to act as content delivery networks (CDNs) or provide content sharing solutions

Companies that leverage blockchain technology to offer databases, query services and data sharing

Companies that offer blockchain-enabled Internet-of-Things (IoT) development platforms for building networks and transferring IoT device data

Companies that leverage blockchain to protect and manage digital intellectual property (IP) rights

Companies that leverage blockchain technology to provide cybersecurity and identity management solutions for enterprises

Companies and protocols that offer industry and context specific blockchain-based solutions for enterprise applications

Sports Tech

Technology solution providers for sports venues, which includes solutions for stadium management, connectivity and entertainment, and video assistant referee (VAR) technology

Platforms and devices that aid the training process and/or measure player statistics and other metrics, such as health and movement data, to improve player performance

Platforms that assists the management of teams, leagues, tournaments, and other sporting events

Providers of sports data for other sports-related platforms

Online media platforms that distribute sports-related content

Online sports betting platforms and platforms where virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport compete based on player performance in actual games

Companies that develop apparel products equipped with technology to track and improve performance

Platforms that enable fans to engage with sports brands and other fans, and developers of solutions such as audience behavior and sentiment analytics, and audience engagement

Creating safer digital communities with AI vigilance

Automated Content Moderation

Platforms that analyze and filter text-based content, including comments, chat messages, and forum posts, to detect and block hate speech, offensive language, harassment, and spam

Platforms that analyze and filter images and videos, blocking inappropriate or guideline-violating content such as nudity, violence, copyrighted materials, hate speech, and other harmful elements

Platforms that analyze and moderate a variety of media channels including text, images, audio, or video, to determine whether the content is inappropriate or violates guidelines

Platforms that offer specialized content moderation for industries like gaming, ecommerce, healthcare, and social media

Firms that offer content moderation services that combine automated AI-based content analysis with human experts’ analysis

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 Spotify has announced a new initiative called the "Partner Program". Its objective is to provide financial incentives to podcast hosts who create popular videos on their platform.
 The scheme aims to encourage creators to incorporate a video element into their podcasts. The income hosts can generate will be determined by viewer engagement and will not be solely reliant on advertisement revenue. Another notable feature of the program is ad-free viewing for premium subscribers, fostering a better video podcast viewing experience.
 The new feature will also offer creators the option to select thumbnails for their podcasts and enhance the transparency of performance and growth analytics. The roll-out of the update is scheduled for January 2, 2025, and will be available in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.
 As part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the video experience, Spotify plans to introduce additional functionalities including chapters, comments, pinch-to-zoom, and thumbnail scrubbing.
 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 This initiative seems to be a move to challenge YouTube's dominance in the video podcast segment, which entered the space in <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/16624"> 2023 </a> with podcast features&nbsp;in YouTube Music.

Spotify

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