Rampersand Investment Notes: The Curtain Rises for Muso
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There is something infectious about talking to the co-founders of Muso. The ambition, passion, and energy exuded by Jez, Alan and Brandon is uncontainable and one can’t help but get excited about the future of live entertainment and gigs. We’re stoked to be formally on the Muso journey after cheering the team on from the sidelines for the last few years.
It may seem counterintuitive to invest in a live entertainment startup during a pandemic but there is a lot to like about this dynamic trio!
You can read more about our investment in the Financial Review here: Start-up helps bands score post-lockdown gigs
Why are we so excited about Muso?
💪🏽 Ambition: Rampersand loves to back pioneers. There are over 5.6m live performances every year at pubs, clubs and bars in the US, UK and Australia— Muso is pioneering the operating system of live entertainment globally.
👬 Founders: The team has an uncanny insight into the industry — they’ve worked in venues and as musicians and in the early days wouldn’t walk past a venue without talking to the gig manager about how they operated — no one understands live entertainment like this team!
⚙️ Traction: Australia’s biggest and best pubs and venues have already been won over and come onboard the Muso platform. Muso has enabled 10k shows in more than 500 venues since 2018.
The Muso Ambition
Muso is pioneering the operating system of the live entertainment industry — moving gig-management from sticky notes on a monitor to streamlined software in the cloud.
There are millions of live performances around the world each year — from the corner pub to the sports club. Each is painstakingly booked with phone calls, post-it notes and last minute cancellations. Muso streamlines the entire process from finding new and exciting artists to managing booking and completing payments.
Rampersand is proud to back Muso as they grow into this ambition: to be the only place a pub, club or tavern needs to organise their entertainment and the place where hundreds of thousands of musicians launch their careers from their first grassroots gig. The whole industry can operate with the Muso platform.
The Muso Founders
Jez, Alan and Brandon are passionate about supporting the music industry. They’ve worked on both sides of the industry, as musicians and venue managers. Early in their journey, they had a pact that whenever they walked past a venue, one of them had to go in and talk to the manager about their upcoming gigs. They also personally attended all gigs in the early years to learn about how their customers operated and ensure the gigs ran smoothly.
The founders share a passion and energy matched with an uncanny insight into an industry that is ripe for a giant leap forward. They understand grassroots gigs like few others and they have created a unique value proposition that applies equally to venues and musicians globally.
Their insight is never more obvious than when they describe the viral mechanism that constitutes their go-to-market. They have mapped out the industry, its interactions, and have been able to build it all into their value proposition. This enables rapid, low friction growth, even in new markets.
Traction
The team’s Covid-19 strategy, optimism, and good sense of humour have allowed them to navigate the last 18 months like few others in their field. Muso’s customer base has grown 10x during Covid, and when restrictions were lifted earlier this year, they exploded out of the gates with 70% — 80% growth MoM.
Muso has already successfully coordinated more than 10,000 shows for 5,000 artists in more than 500 venues. The team landed some of the biggest pubs and venues in Australia including Sand Hill Road, Solotel, Funlab, The Sydney Collective, Oscars, Kickn Group, and Australian Venue Co — and mostly all during the pandemic.
This is a team that with all the capabilities and is in the right place at the right time — we can’t wait to be part of the journey.
