Music Messenger

About Music Messenger

Music Messenger emerged in 2014 as a mobile-centric platform for music streaming and messaging, founded by a team of serial entrepreneurs including O.D. Kobo, Shai Azran, Uzi Refaeli, and David Strauss. The company, which operated from Israel, aimed to simplify the process of sharing music between mobile devices, a task that previously relied on cumbersome methods like sending YouTube links via text. The application allowed users to search for a vast catalog of music, create playlists, and instantly send them to contacts. Received tracks were organized into a library for on-demand listening.

The platform operated on an ad-free, subscription-free model, aggregating streamable links from a variety of open sources such as YouTube, SoundCloud, and VK. It did not host the music files directly but rather provided links for streaming, thereby positioning itself as a promotional tool for the music industry. To support artists, the app included a "Download on iTunes" button for each track, encouraging users to purchase the music. This approach was designed to appeal to markets where subscription services like Spotify had less traction.

Music Messenger quickly gained significant financial backing, securing a $5 million Series A round in August 2014 and a notable $30 million Series B round in early 2015, which brought the company's valuation to over $100 million. The investor list was a high-profile ensemble of music industry moguls and celebrities, including David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, Tiësto, will.i.am, and Benny Andersson of ABBA. The Series B round was led by billionaire Roman Abramovich, marking his largest investment in an Israeli startup at the time. O.D. Kobo, a seasoned internet entrepreneur with previous successful exits like the $40 million sale of the social media app Pheed, brought significant experience to the venture. By 2018, the company announced it was exploring a move into blockchain technology, proposing a system where users could pay for Music Messenger Tokens (MMT) to stream music, with a significantly higher percentage of revenue going directly to the artists.