Tune Studios & BAC Ventures acquire Gigfairy

• Graduate of Alpha Startups programme, 12mths from inception to acquisition
• ‘Gigfairy will lead the entertainment industry into a new era of talent booking’

 
TUNE Studios and BAC Ventures have completed the acquisition of Malaysian live music booking startup Gigfairy for an undisclosed amount.
 
Gigfairy, which describes itself as the ‘Airbnb for live music,’ operates a marketplace that helps users book live music for any occasion, while also creating more gig opportunities for musicians.
 
The Kuala Lumpur-based startup was established in November 2014 when it participated in 1337 Ventures’ Alpha Startups idea validation programme.
 
It then received its first investment from 1337 Ventures after going through a three-month accelerator programme, and later landed pre-seed funding from Endeavour Capitals.
 
“The acquisition of Gigfairy – which evolved from inception to acquisition in 12 months –demonstrates that traditional businesses realise the need for inorganic growth via startups,” said 1337 Ventures founder and chief executive officer Bikesh Lakhmichand.
 
“I think we are going to witness more of such cases in the next couple of years,” he added.
 
Gigfairy said it has grown to a community of over 200 artistes across an array of genres, including artistes such as De Fam, Paperplane Pursuit – whose song Feel Good was listed on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 in September 2015 – and Jin Hackman.
 
Tune Studios chief executive officer Adib Khalid said that among other things, acquiring Gigfairy was a good way for the record label to scout for talent.
 
“Gigfairy will lead the entertainment industry into a new era of talent booking,” he said.
 
“Through its simplified booking process, Gigfairy is a new marketplace for artistes and talents to not only obtain different avenues of income, but also … increase and expose their visibility in the market to potential clients, producers and fans,” he added.
 
The acquisition will also help ease the process of entering different markets around the region, one of Gigfairy’s key focuses for 2016.
 
“Tune Studios and BAC are doing incredibly exciting things for the live music industry,” said Gigfairy founder and chief executive officer Brian Foo.
 
“We share one common goal – and that is to uplift the entire music industry, starting here at home in Kuala Lumpur and then the rest of the region.
 
“Both the teams are young and so hungry and we’re stoked to be able to play a role in this,” added Foo, who will remain at the helm of the company.
 
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