audioBoom has conditionally raised £4.5 million from a mix of new and old investors. The podcast company is expected to trading on the London Stock Exchange beginning June 14, and the placing is conditional upon those shares being restored. The money will be used for expanding audioBoom’s relationships with Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Castbox, as well as for acquiring new podcasts and expanding the Audioboom Originals Network. Other uses of the proceeds are general working capital and increasing revenue by developing a “proposed buy-side media agency, in partnership with an established media agency.” The board said it expects revenue for 2018 to show “significant improvement” over 2017.
“I am delighted by the continued support received from our existing and new shareholders. I’m particularly excited that the placing funds will enable us to continue building the quality of our own output and evolve the offering of our own Audioboom Originals Network,” audioBoom CEO Rob Proctor said. “We also plan to increase scale by continuing to drive revenue through the acquisition of top-tier podcast content and the development of our proposed buy-side media agency, that we intend to progress in partnership with an established media agency.”
This new influx of money, in addition to the £500,000 loan from Candy Ventures in late May, will further secure stability for audioBoom after a challenging few months. The company had been planning a merger with Triton Digital that was announced in February, but was unable to collect sufficient capital to close the deal. It was dissolved in May 15. The May 31 round was sufficient to keep audioBoom in operation through June.