MOG, the digital music and music blogging network, today announced that it has closed a round of funding totalling $9.5 million, led by Balderton Capital and Menlo Ventures.

MOG is an innovative digital music site that provides a music discovery service through a community of 13 million hard core music fans, across hundreds of blogs in the MOG network along with the best active and passive listening experience. The passive aspect takes the form of a personalised radio over which the user has total control, unlike non-subscription services; the active music management service allows users to listen to any tracks they wish through playlisting tools and a library of four million tracks from all the majors and a range of independent labels. No other service combines all three elements of music discovery alongside a music listening experience which is both passive and active. MOG launched a $5-per-month MOG All Access subscription service in the US in December 2009.

Dharmash Mistry, partner at Balderton Capital, will join MOG’s board. The funding will support the further development of marketing programs, partnerships with consumer electronics companies and international expansion, starting with the UK later this year.

David Hyman, founder and CEO of MOG, said: “MOG’s goal is to give people the best listening experience possible by delivering the best on-demand experience, the best radio and the best tools to discover new music. This latest investment will enable us to begin rolling out the service internationally, starting with the UK, and we are delighted to welcome Dharmash to the board.”

Dharmash Mistry said: “MOG is the only digital music site with a range of services that appeal to listeners of all types - personalised radio, active music management through playlisting tools and a massive community of music enthusiasts and bloggers to assist the discovery of new music through recommendations from influential music opinion formers on the blogs. Licensing deals with all the key music labels mean MOG is unique in the range of music it offers music lovers from the ardent fan to the casual listener We are excited to be working with MOG and have full confidence in David’s ability to guide the company through the next phase of international growth.”

MOG was set up in 2006 and has 13 million users – it is adding a further half million a month. It has music licensing deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music and many key independents including Beggars Group, INgrooves, IODA and The Orchard.

In the US, MOG launched its All Access subscription service in December 2009. This is a $5 per month “all-you-can-eat” service. MOG users can access their accounts from any browser without needing to download any software. Monthly subscription offers unlimited music listening and playlist creation, with no restrictions on what subscribers can hear and when. Since the December launch of MOG All Access in the US, the company has seen an impressive 17 percent user conversion from the free trial. A video tour of the service can be viewed at: http://mog.com/promos/overview

ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Balderton Capital
Powerscourt
Kay Larsen/Victoria Palmer-Moore  
44 207 250 1446
kay.larsen@powerscourtmedia.com
victoria.palmer-moore@powerscourtmedia.com

About MOG
Headquartered in Berkeley, CA., MOG was founded in June 2005 by David Hyman, former CEO of Gracenote, former SVP-Marketing at MTV Interactive, co-founder of Addicted to Noise, and self-proclaimed music junkie. Grammy-winning record producer, Rick Rubin, named by Time Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World," is a member of MOG's Board of Directors. Investors include Menlo Ventures, Simon Equity Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music. For more information go to http://mog.com.  

About Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital is one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe, committed to finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies. Based in London, it manages $1.9 billion in committed venture capital. Since 2000, Balderton has invested in over 80 companies, principally in numerous European countries but also in the US and Asia. Balderton’s investments span a wide variety of sectors including communications, consumer services, enterprise software and services, e-commerce, mobile, semiconductors, media and financial services.

Balderton invests in innovative businesses and approaches investment using the principles of teamwork and an intense dedication to building companies of lasting value. The investment partners combine international and Silicon Valley operational experience with company-building expertise. Notable investments include Bebo (sold to AOL for $850m), Betfair (the online betting exchange), ScanSafe (sold to Cisco for $183m), LOVEFiLM (the home entertainment subscription service) and MySQL (sold to Sun for $1 billion).  In December 2009, Balderton portfolio company Yoox Group floated on the Milan stock exchange with a valuation of EUR260 million.

Dharmash Mistry is a partner at Balderton Capital. Prior to joining Balderton, Dharmash spent 15 years acquiring and developing businesses globally in the media, retail and consumer goods sectors. He was part of the management team that successfully sold Emap’s consumer magazine business to H. Bauer for £1.1bn. He spent eight years at Emap, where he held a range of executive roles, including Managing Director of Emap Consumer Media and Emap Performance, the company’s music-focused division.
For more information visit www.balderton.com