Stem raises $20 million in new funding round from QED Investors and Block

Below is an article originally published on April 18, 2022. Go to Stem Disintermedia's company page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.

Today we’re announcing that we’ve received a new round of funding to help us achieve our mission to provide clarity and accountability to the music industry by building modern financial tools for artists, labels, their teams, and their collaborators. The distribution clients using Stem Direct have long praised us for our simple dashboard that provides instant visibility into their earnings and tools like Splits and Recoup Rules that enable teams to divide royalty income in a fair and transparent manner. In this next phase of our journey, we’ll offer our products to the rest of the industry, because artists and labels deserve better financial tools no matter who they choose as a distribution partner.

With this new round, we’re bringing on new investors who can help us build financial tools that are worthy of artists and labels trying to build a business in music today. QED Investors has focused their venture investment on innovative fintech companies that are using technology to transform the finances of consumers and businesses alike. We’re also thrilled to welcome QED partner—and @fintechjunkie himself—Frank Rotman to our board. Frank and the team at QED shared some thoughts about why they’re investing in Stem today. This round also sees new investment from Block, formerly Square, alongside continued participation from previous investors Slow Ventures and Quality Control.

We believe that the music industry has relied for too long on legacy tools that haven’t kept up with the reality of the business today. Artists are working with different partners for different releases, they’re earning income from new platforms and technologies, and they need money to invest in producing and marketing their work. We believe that Labels deserve the kind innovations and financial tools that have supported small business growth in other industries for the past decade. With the money that we’ve raised in this round, we can build a payments platform that takes our industry into a future that’s clear and fair for everyone.