Kobalt Raises Additional $14M, Google Ventures’ Bill Maris Joins Board

Music rights management, publishing and label services company Kobalt has raised another $14 million, bring the total of its recent Series D round to $89 million. Bill Maris, the founder and CEO of Google ventures, will join Kobalt's board.Merlis, Hearst Entertainment, Balderton Capital and MSD Capital all participated in the Series D round. The company has raised $205 million since launching in 2008. Paul McCartney, Kelly Clarkson, Dave Grohl, Dr. Luke, The Chainsmokers and the Miles Davis estate are among Kobalt's clients."The royalty collection business has been stuck in the dark ages, and artists often have to wait for months or years to get paid for use of their work – if they get paid at all," said Kobalt founder and CEO Willard Ahdritz. "Kobalt is the only company to have created a full multi-rights content management system to fix this broken business model, and I couldn't be happier to join the board and invest again in Willard and the team at Kobalt."