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NFT Music Platform Royal Closes $55M Funding Round Led by A16z

Electronic music performers The Chainsmokers and the rapper Nas also provided funding, which comes less than three months after the Justin “3LAU” Blau venture closed a $16 million round.

Updated May 11, 2023, 5:47 p.m. Published Nob 23, 2021, 2:00 p.m. Translated by AI

Justin Blau is launching Royal Markets with some high-profile backers. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Billboard Magazine)

Royal, the music tokenization platform launched by DJ and entrepreneur Justin “3LAU” Blau, closed a $55 million Series A funding round on Monday, CoinDesk confirmed.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the round, which also included participation by Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm and the performers, The Chainsmokers and Nas.
“In addition to their audacious vision, what makes this founding team so unique is 3LAU’s firsthand experience as a musician paired with JD’s exceptional track record as a repeat founder and startup operator,” a16z General Partner Katie Haun wrote in a blog post.
The funding comes less than three months after Royal raised a $16 million seed round. Paradigm and Founders Fund each invested $7 million in this earlier funding, securing board seats for their respective general partners, Fred Ehrsam and Keith Rabois.
Royal slices up song royalty rights into crypto tokens that anyone can buy and trade.

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Venture Capital A16z Andreessen Horowitz

James Rubin

James Rubin was CoinDesk's Co-Managing Editor, Markets team based on the West Coast. He has written and edited for the Milken Institute, TheStreet.com and the Economist Intelligence Unit, among other organizations. He is also the co-author of the Urban Cyclist's Survival Guide. He owns a small amount of bitcoin.