Australian online radio station turned EDM network Pulse Global has revealed plans to raise $6m and list itself on the Australian Stock Exchange, in its bid to become the world’s leading EDM community platform.
The funds generated from the listing will see founders Wade Cawood (CEO - pictured, right) and Simon Beckingham (CCO - pictured, left) further realise their vision of ‘transforming Pulse Global from streaming platform into a thriving global electronic dance community’.
The $6m will be raised in two separate rounds - an upfront $1m round, to be closed soon, and a $5m round closer to the RTO. This will be used to hire a CFO, a global territory manager, launch a video production arm, double down Pulse’s IT development capabilities and expand its marketing strategy.
Pulse Global’s platform features an events, ticketing, streaming and community management business. The company has 660,000 unique site visitors each month – a figure it says is growing at a rate of roughly 20% each month). This number peaked at 1.7 million visitors in March 2014, when the company experimented with website marketing.
Meanwhile, its platform generated $4.5 million in sales during its Beta testing phase, with the final product set to be rolled out globally by the end of the year.
The firm has also bolstered its management team with the appointment of ex-Beatport CEO Matt Adell to the board of directors. Adell previously served as VP of music services at Napster.
“We took on management of Pulse nearly a decade ago as a labour of love,” Cawood said. “Now the time is right to take this platform to the next level and unite electronic dance fans around the world .
"It's a fragmented sector of music. Language differences, cultural and tribal factors all play a role in determining personal tastes from region to region. But we think we've cracked the code here with our unique JV (joint venture) approach.
"We're not force-feeding overseas dance music into a new region. We're going to grow each community separately, and unite them under the Pulse Global banner.
“We’re already set up in over ten countries, including the US, UK, India, Brazil and Indonesia. We’re the first platform of our kind to crack Asia, and we’re currently looking to push this growth even further with more potential JV partners.”
Pulse Global was founded in Australia in the ‘90s and is one of the country’s oldest online radio stations. The company is now based out of LA, although its does have an office in Sydney. It also has a presence in India, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Brazil via its JV programme.
