PROVIDENCE – Just two years after its launch, Providence music platform Artist Republik has been sold to a California company.
The all-stock deal with Friendable Inc. closed on Jan. 4, according to Friendable’s financial statements. Under the terms of the acquisition, Artist Republik received just under 179 million shares of Friendable stock in exchange for the 100,000 music artists on its platform, along with other domain and trademark rights. Nick Cianfaglione, the former Bryant University student who started Artist Republik, will also stay on as a consultant for Friendable.
Cianfaglione, a Connecticut native who dropped out of Bryant to focus on his business, launched Artist Republik in January 2020 as a way for independent artists to market themselves, including booking shows and monitoring social media engagement, without paying for managers. Since then, the startup raised $2 million through two fundraising rounds, adding 100,000 artists from 192 countries to its platform, Cianfaglione said in an interview on Friday.
Cianfaglione said the decision to sell allowed the platform to continue to grow while freeing him from the “continuous focus on fundraising.”
Friendable was the perfect fit given its background in technology and marketing and recent acquisition of Fan Pass Live, another music startup that offers live-stream concerts and interactions with artists
“They were doing live shows, and we were doing digital stuff, so it just made sense,” Cianfaglione said.
“Our services are designed to elevate each artist, garner new fans, build awareness and exposure, and, most of all, build revenue that the artist keeps, rather than paying back debt created by label advances,” Friendable CEO Robert Rositano Jr. said in a statement. “We look forward to expanding the Fan Pass Live artist and fan community through this initial acquisition, and we plan to set the stage for additional acquisition opportunities alongside dynamic partnerships that will continue to fuel our growth.”
Artist Republik had been renting office space in Providence’s Cambridge Innovation Center, but will now be housed out of California as part of the sale. Cianfaglione said “most” of the company’s six employees will be kept on under the new owner.
Cianfaglione is now setting his sights on helping other students to start and grow their own companies, with plans to launch a series of events for local, student startup founders.
“My goal is to take everything I’ve learned and spent time doing and figure out what we can do to bring more Artist Republiks to Rhode Island,” he said. “We need more students to launch startups and stay in Rhode Island.”
Under the terms of the deal, Friendable must issue at least 25% of its outstanding shares as of January 2023 to Artist Republik.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.