Death to Muzak: Roqbot Raises $1.2M from Google Ventures and Others for Better Background Music
Good news if poorly selected background music makes you miserable: Music tech startup Roqbot has raised a $1.2 million seed round, led by Google Ventures and Detroit Venture Partners and including Penny Black, T5 Capital, and Accelerator Ventures, as well as angel investors.
Roqbot aims to offer a more interactive alternative to the background music services that produce the anodyne mixes you’ll hear in the grocery store, without requiring the level of participation of a jukebox. Customers in a bar or bowling alley request whatever they’d like to hear via a smartphone app. So the business gets final approval, but doesn’t have to painstakingly build a playlist or default to a standard background music service. The idea is to create ”a streaming music solution that’s customized for each location, that lets the customers engage with the music and discover what’s playing,” explained cofounder and CEO Garnett Dodge. Read More
