Rebel Audio Closes Series A at About $50M Valuation, Led by HardScope
Rebel Audio, an AI-powered podcasting platform, has closed its Series A round led by creator media company and studio HardScope. The company says the round targets a $10M close and values it at approximately $50M post-money.
- Rebel Audio closed a Series A led by creator media company HardScope.
- The round targets a $10M close at approximately $50M post-money, with more funding to follow in a 90 day window.
- It follows an oversubscribed seed round of $4.15M.
- Funds go to AI infrastructure, creator acquisition and marketing.
- Rebel Audio's inaugural POD U event is set for Oct. 16 in Franklin, Tennessee.
Funding details and valuation
According to the company, the Series A follows an oversubscribed seed round of $4.15M. The round targets a $10M close and values Rebel Audio at approximately $50M post-money. The announcement carries a caveat: more funding is to follow in a 90 day window.
Rebel Audio says the money will go toward its product roadmap, including an expansion of its AI infrastructure, as well as creator acquisition and marketing. It will also support what the company describes as continued growth as it sets out to build the future of the podcast industry.
The seed round, according to the release, helped take Rebel Audio from stealth to public beta.
What the platform does
Rebel Audio describes its product as an end-to-end operating system for the next generation of podcasters and creators. The platform combines tools to record, edit, publish, translate, distribute and monetize content. It uses AI to streamline workflows that traditionally require multiple platforms.
Jared Gutstadt, Founder and CEO of Rebel Audio, said: "I started my career in dark editing rooms, fighting the tools just to get the work done, and have been building creator tools ever since." He added that Rebel is "the simplest version of that mission: remove the friction, give creators their time back." Gutstadt also pointed to the experience of HardScope's CEO, saying Matt Kalish co-founded DraftKings and knows technology and performance marketing.
Kalish, CEO of HardScope, said the next generation of creators will use one-stop-shop AI powered platforms to show "you don't need a big team to create and launch great content." He said empowering creators to build ambitious projects and an audience is core to HardScope's mission.
Board, advisers and investors
The company has established a new board of directors. It includes Matt Kalish, who is also the DraftKings founder and HardScope CEO, along with Ben Lurie, Jacob Dezarn and Jonathan Schulman.
The advisory board lists Bill Hobbs, Mark Burnett, Brian Edwards, Scott Robison, Jeff Levin and Mike Majlak, who serves as Rebel Audio's Chief Creator in Residence.
Rebel Audio's strategic investor network includes:
- The State of Tennessee
- Launch TN
- Rich Marder
- Joe McCann
- Julie Gauthier
- Capital Midwest
- Charlie Epstein
- Ben Lurie
- Jonathan Schulman
POD U event and what comes next
Rebel Audio has also announced POD U, an inaugural creator think tank scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16 at the Rebel Chateau in Franklin, Tennessee. The event is meant to bring together creators, platform leaders, athletes, media executives and investors. Headline guests include MDMotivator, Mike "Big Mike" Majlak, Caleb Simpson, Andrew Essex, Fort Nash's Chris Ruediger and the Ecomm Cowboys. Jimmy Jellinek, the former Playboy and Maxim editor turned public radio producer, will moderate and produce it. More participants and programming details are due in the coming weeks.
For creators, the pitch is a single AI-driven platform in place of several separate tools. Whether Rebel Audio can deliver on that will depend on execution, and the release gives no user numbers or pricing. For now, the news shows that a creator media company is willing to back the product at a roughly $50M valuation, with additional funding still expected.
