Mandolin, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based digital platform for live music recently raised a $5M seed funding round. According to the company’s website, the seed round will be used to help accelerate growth. Participation in the round included High Alpha Capital, Marc Benioff, and leading SaaS angel investors with a strong desire to see live music return to the stage.
Since the company’s inception in June 2020, Mandolin has helped artists, management teams, and venues reconnect through live music. Mandolin gives the artists the ability to build a robust digital strategy outside of social media. Notable Mandolin product features that artists can utilize include artist meet & greet experiences, public and private chat, limited-edition merch tables just to mention a few. Not only can they connect better with fans, but also take advantage of a new revenue source.
Mandolin, Born During a Pandemic
“The new version of “live” continues to evolve and reveal itself. We’re in an all-digital world, and there’s no going back,” said Mary Kay Huse, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Mandolin in a press release. “But Mandolin has a way forward—a way to bring people back together and live music back to the stage, whether we’re in the same room or reaching out across the globe. Our journey to redefine live entertainment is real, and we have the digital know-how to make the music industry even more resilient for this new normal.”
Mandolin is the 18th company to launch out of High Alpha’s venture studio. This Indianapolis based venture studio is focused on conceiving and launching B2B SaaS companies.
“We created this platform to bring artists and fans together. Like many industries before it, the music business is going through massive disruption and musicians need to build digital-first businesses to thrive. It’s inspiring to help artists do what they do best—play shows and connect with fans,” said Eric Tobias, Partner at High Alpha, in a press release. “Mary Kay is a brilliant, highly-dynamic leader. Her ability to build and scale software, to accelerate revenue growth, and to inspire organizational greatness, at a global level, is unmatched. We look forward to seeing what she can do.”
Mandolin Founders
Mary Kay Huse graduated from DePauw University in 2002 with a BA in computer science and economics. Before Mandolin, Huse served as EVP and Chief Operating Officer, marketing cloud at Salesforce and ExactTarget. Robert Meitus, co-founder and VP of Industry Development holds a BA in political science from Wabash College, a Masters of international affairs from Columbia | SIPA, and a JD, Law from Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Prior to co-founding Mandolin, Meitus worked as an adjunct professor for Indiana University Maurer School of Law and worked as a partner for Meitus Gelbert Rose LLP. Co-founder and CTO, Steve Caldwell graduated from Mississippi State University in 2008 with a BA in communication/broadcasting. Before the company’s founding, Caldwell held a VP position in platform innovation at Springbuk® and was the co-founder and CEO of Strap.
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