North Texas Seed Accelerator Helps Music Publishing Startup Earn $600K in VC Funding
FRISCO, Texas, April 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Matthew S. Lewis is a tech startup founder from North Texas. His business, CommonEdits, facilitates creation, publishing, and distribution of new music from independent artists.
Lewis set out with a dream and a business strategy in 2015. In early 2016 at the LaunchDFW Dallas New Tech meeting Lewis presented his mission to the public stating, "What I want to listen to is the stuff that grows organically around me, the stuff that will help me grow as a person. Not this processed McMusic that we're currently listening to." He used his digital marketing expertise and passion for hip-hop music to test market an idea for a collaborative music platform.
In March 2016, he found himself sitting across from Jason W. Taylor – Frisco Texas award winning entrepreneur and founder of Code Authority. Code Authority is a custom software development company known for producing the "CodeLaunch" seed accelerator competition. CodeLaunch aims to discover and curate embryonic stage startups through an annual competition, pitch day and tradeshow.
It was not quite time for Lewis to bring his concept to CodeLaunch; However, Code Authority was eager to get involved. According to Taylor, "We jumped at the opportunity to invest in CommonEdits outside of the CodeLaunch competition cycle because the concept, the space, and Lewis were that intriguing." Their first round of investment was offering Lewis their custom software team in the form of a product discovery hackathon.
Meanwhile, Lewis went on to SXSW's 2016 Music Hackathon with the mission to win their competition. He received recognition from a top-notch engineer, C. J. Carr, who became part of his team as a co-founder. He went on to accept an invite to Seed Sumo accelerator.
With a few months to spare before the Seed Sumo and CodeLaunch events, Lewis approached Taylor for another round of support. Code Authority put their team behind it. Collaborating with the CommonEdits team, Code Authority produced a MVP that was ready for investors to fawn over during the pitch days of both CodeLaunch and Seed Sumo.
"The startup world is a crazy world, 9 out of 10 startups fail. But if you won something, like a CodeLaunch, that 1 out of 10 goes much higher," stated Lewis at the 2016 CodeLaunch competition.
After finding himself approached by several seed round capital investors at both events, Lewis accepted a deal from the Austin VC firm MVII8 (mseven8.com). On December 23rd of last year CommonEdits was funded with $600K in seed capital. The full platform is under development and the North American product launch is planned for June. Lewis will be a featured speaker at the CodeLaunch V event August 9. He will share with attendees how his startup, CommonEdits, went from a dream to a funded reality within one year, with the help of CodeLaunch.
Rex Kurzius is the founder of Frisco, TX based Asset Panda, the presenting CodeLaunch sponsor, and a noteworthy North Texas entrepreneur himself. "Taking an idea from concept to product can be a daunting task. We are proud to be associated with organizations like CodeLaunch that help people accomplish this objective," said Kurzius.
CodeLaunch V, Presented by Asset Panda and Code Authority, will take place on August 9, 2017 in Frisco Texas at the Dr. Pepper Arena. Competitors can apply through May 31, 2017 at www.codelaunch.com.
For more information contact Ashlyn Udden (469) 213-3223 or visit:
www.codelaunch.com
www.assetpanda.com
www.commonedits.com
www.codeauthority.com
SOURCE Code Authority
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