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Groover Raises $8 Million in Series A Funding to Provide All-in-One Music Promotion Platform for Independent Artists

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NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Groover, the innovative music promotion platform, announces today an $8 million Series A funding round, led by investors OneRagtime, Trind, Techmind, and MozzaAngels, and supported by historical backers, Partech, Bpifrance’s Tech & Touch fund, Verve Ventures, and Frenchfounders.

This new financing will consolidate Groover’s position as an all-in-one platform solution by integrating additional services such as promotion, marketing, coaching, and career development support, additionally to strengthen the company’s strategic presence in the North American, European, and Latin American markets.

“The success of this funding round represents a crucial step in our journey,” says Groover’s co-founder and CEO, Romain Palmieri. “With these new investments, Groover is poised to write a new chapter, solidifying its position as a global reference in music promotion. Our goal is to provide independent artists with an all-in-one platform supported by innovative features and services and keep accelerating our international development in North America, Europe and Latin America.”

This news comes at a time when, despite the technical ease of producing and distributing music online, musicians face significant challenges in standing out and gaining visibility due to the oversaturation of the music landscape. In 2023 alone, over 120,000 new tracks were released daily.

All-in-One Platform for Independent Artists

Launched in 2019 by Dorian Perron, Rafael Cohen, and Romain Palmieri, musicians and music journalists themselves, Groover seeks to boost independent artists’ careers by providing direct networking opportunities with key players in the music industry. Specifically, artists can use the Groover platform to find and connect with music professionals – almost 3000 selected music professionals and curators – to get direct, constructive, and timely feedback on their work, often leading to concrete development opportunities. Since its launch, Groover has attracted nearly 350,000 independent artists from over 180 countries, generating over 4 million personalized reviews.

Groover now aims to further support its users by integrating two additional services to the platform: Groover Club and Groover Obsessions.

Groover Club membership service offers coaching, masterclasses, and personalized follow-up sessions to 1,000 artists in France and the US to help artists increase their visibility with detailed advice. Groover Obsessions, a selective program, provides career development opportunities to the most promising artists on the platform, boosting the visibility and profitability of their music production to the next level. Among the 300 artists currently supported by the Groover Obsessions program are Gorillaz’s bassist, Seye Adelekan, indie band Faux Real, up-and-coming musician ZOLA, and Swiss Olympic snowboarder and indie folk artist Pat Burgener, to just name a few.

Expanding Global Presence

With operations in the US, Canada, Italy, Brazil, the UK, France, and Germany, Groover currently generates 80% of its revenue internationally. With this funding, the startup aims to develop an international expansion strategy, reinforcing and furthering its presence in Europe, North America, and Latin America.

As part of this plan, the platform is intensifying global recruitment efforts, targeting top talents in tech, product and business development. Since the beginning of 2024, the company has already hired marketing, product, and tech profiles with prior experience in the music industry. The successful launch of Groover’s New York office in early 2022 has already propelled the US to become Groover’s top market in just six months, contributing to nearly 40% of its current revenue.

Investor’s quote: “At OneRagtime, we are delighted to support Groover in this growth phase,” says Stéphanie Hospital, CEO, and founder of OneRagtime. “Groover’s ability to connect artists with media and industry professionals is unique, and the vision of becoming the all-in-one platform for independent artists is particularly inspiring. We are confident that Groover will continue to redefine the landscape of music promotion, and we look forward to contributing to this success story.”

For additional information or inquiries, please contact Michelle Alberini-Krapian at groover@kalamari.agency 

About Groover: Founded in 2018, Groover is an innovative music promotion platform that connects key players in the music industry with independent artists through direct networking opportunities. Since its public launch in January 2019, Since its launch in 2019, Groover has attracted nearly 350,000 independent artists from over 180 countries, generating over 4 million personalized reviews.

About OneRagtime: OneRagtime is a venture capital platform founded by Stéphanie Hospital and Jean-Marie Messier. Since 2017, OneRagtime has sourced, financed, and scaled +45 start-ups in France and Europe.

With its unique platform model, OneRagtime allows its investor community to invest in the most-promising French and European startups through its funds or dedicated club deals, while giving entrepreneurs unparalleled network and business acceleration.

About Partech: 
Partech is a global tech investment firm headquartered in Paris, with offices in Berlin, Dakar, Dubai, Nairobi, and San Francisco. We are a team made up of independent thinkers. We are unconstrained by hype, trend or fixed ways of working. We believe in the power of alliance in action, working together and side-by-side with the founders we back, in the shared pursuit of success. We bring together capital, operational experience and strategic support for the entrepreneurs we back from seed through to growth stage. Born in San Francisco 40 years ago, today we manage €2.5B AUM and our current portfolio of 220 companies in 40 countries, across 4 continents.

About Bpifrance: Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments, and export insurance. Bpifrance also provides extra financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and overcome the challenges they face.

Website: http://www.bpifrance.fr and presse.bpifrance.fr X : @Bpifrance – @BpifrancePresse

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SOURCE Groover

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XCMG XCA4000 Achieves Milestone with Installation of World’s Tallest Hybrid Tower Wind Turbine

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ORDOS, China, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A new chapter in green energy is unfolding in Inner Mongolia as XCMG’s independently developed 4,000-ton all-terrain crane, the XCA4000, takes center stage at the construction site of the Ordos Zero-Carbon Industrial Park. This enormous crane has become an integral part of the park’s 500MW integrated wind-solar-storage demonstration project, reinforcing its role in pioneering sustainable infrastructure.

The Ordos Zero-Carbon Industrial Park is a joint venture between the Ordos Municipal Government and Envision Technology Group, and stands as the world’s first fully operational zero-carbon industrial zone. It boasts a 100% green electricity supply, with 80% of the energy coming directly from clean sources such as wind, solar, and storage, and the remaining 20% sourced through grid-purchased green power.

The introduction of XCMG’s 4,000-ton crane marks a significant milestone in global energy transition. The XCA4000 is designed primarily for the installation of large wind turbines with hub heights of up to 190 meters tall and maximum power output of up to 15 MW. Powering the crane is a 566 kW Weichai diesel engine, and to help with maneuverability, all 11 axles on the 29.7-meter-long carrier are steered, with eight of them also driven. 

In its most recent operation, the XCA4000 lifted a 117-ton nacelle and drive train, along with 35-ton blades measuring 118 meters in length, to a height of 190 meters—the equivalent of a 60-story building. The XCA4000 performed flawlessly in executing each step of the process: lifting, rotating, aligning, and positioning, with remarkable efficiency and precision, earning acclaim from both the project owner and contractors.

“The 4,000-ton crane is easy to operate despite its 11-axle length,” said Mr. Yang, the crane’s operator who marveled at the crane’s flexible steering. “The multiple driving modes make steering exceptionally flexible. During installation of a 12.5 MW hybrid tower wind turbine, currently the tallest on land, it completed the two lifts in just over twenty minutes each.”

XCMG’s 4,000-ton crane is a testament to the company’s commitment to high-end, intelligent, and green solutions that serve the international market. By tackling the challenges of installing ultra-high-power wind turbines, XCMG continues to support the growing global green energy sector and demonstrates China’s dedication to environmental progress.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2587778/XCMG_XCA4000_Achieves_Milestone_with_Installation_of_World_s_Tallest_Hybrid_Tower_Wind_Turbine.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/xcmg-xca4000-achieves-milestone-with-installation-of-worlds-tallest-hybrid-tower-wind-turbine-302339236.html

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iQIYI leads genre-specific storytelling with the return of its trend-setting ‘Light On Theater,’ featuring seven new suspense dramas

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Five years on, the pioneering drama brand remains the benchmark for suspense

BEIJING, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — iQIYI, China’s leading online entertainment platform, announced this month the return of its acclaimed “Light On Theater,” celebrating the fifth anniversary of this suspense-themed drama brand. Featuring seven new titles with star-studded casts and renowned production teams, the lineup is set to reinforce iQIYI’s leadership in suspense storytelling and highlight the success of its genre-driven model.

The new slate follows the distinctive style of “Light On Theater” with gripping narratives and rich character development as a lens to explore the depth of human nature. Highlights include the drama “Low IQ Crime,” which brings a fresh dark comedy element to the genre, and “Let Wind Goes By,” which premiered on Dec. 26 and breaks new ground as one of the first suspense series set in Northwest China as it follows two generations of police officers entangled in a complex web of relationships. The lineup also features “A Life for a Life,” a compelling prison drama exploring the dynamic between a detention officer and an escaped convict. Other anticipated titles include “Drifting Away,” “Dead End,” “Breaking the Shadows” and “Justifiable Defense.”

Since its launch in 2020, “Light On Theater” has emerged as one of China’s first and most influential drama brands, offering a curated collection of premium suspense series. The label’s breakout hit “The Bad Kids” debuted that same year and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. The series earned critical acclaim and dominated social media conversations, setting a new benchmark for Chinese suspense storytelling with its masterful pacing and nuanced exploration of social issues. This pioneering success has sparked a surge in high-quality suspense productions across the industry that continues today, helping establish suspense as one of the most sought-after genres in Chinese entertainment.

“Our dedication to premium suspense content has created an incredibly engaged viewer base, with high-quality productions driving strong user retention,” says Ying DAI, iQIYI senior vice president and head of “Light On Theater.” “We continuously innovate our content possibilities and boldly push the boundaries of storytelling within the genre, consistently surpassing audience expectations.”

Building on the success of “Light On Theater,” iQIYI has expanded its genre-based approach with “Love On Theater” for romance and “Laugh On Theater” for comedy series, both of which have been well-received by audiences. This year’s launch of “Dajia Theater,” meaning “master of literature,” and “Weichen Theater,” meaning “tiny dust,” which focus on literary adaptations and innovative mini-series respectively, further demonstrates iQIYI’s commitment to serving diverse audience preferences while maintaining premium production standards across genres.

Global recognition

“Light On Theater” has also gained overseas recognition for its premium content, becoming increasingly popular among global audiences in addition to traditional genres like fantasy period dramas.

Standout series “The Bad Kids” and “The Long Night” won consecutive awards at the Asia Contents Awards (ACA) of the Busan International Film Festival, while “Why Try to Change Me Now” marked a milestone last year as the first Chinese-language series to be selected for the Berlinale Series.

The strong reception in overseas markets demonstrates how iQIYI’s meticulously crafted stories resonate with audiences through their universal themes of human nature. Notably, “The Bad Kids” was adapted into a local version in Japan in 2024, highlighting its widespread appeal.

CONTACT: iQIYI Press, press@qiyi.com

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SOURCE iQIYI

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Japan Global Innovators’ Forum 2025

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The annual meeting is returning for its second year after a successful inaugural event in 2024

TOKYO, Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Tokyo-based global media agency Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting Inc. (PBMC) is pleased to announce that the 2nd annual Japan Global Innovators’ Forum (JGIF) will be held in March 2025. PBMC’s solutions-focused multilingual news service J-Stories will co-host the event with the Mainichi national daily’s startup accelerator, Mainichi Future Creation Lab.

Innovative Japanese and international startups with global ambitions will gather in the heart of Tokyo on March 13, showcasing the solutions they offer to address the world’s biggest social and environmental challenges. A panel of industry experts will assess their growth potential both in Japan and abroad at the cross-border pitch event.

Participating startups in the 2025 event will include not only Japanese startups aiming to expand into global markets, but also ambitious inbound Asian startups that are taking on the challenge of solving some of Japan’s critical problems — such as its aging population and rural depopulation.

The categories to be focused on are Age Tech, Health Tech, Mobility, and Green Energy. There will also be special sessions featuring East Asian startups as well as Japan’s regional startups.

Organizers hope that the event will provide practical opportunities for participating entrepreneurs to meet potential partners and supporters in Japan and overseas, including venture capitalists and corporate venture capitalists, among other startup ecosystem players.

Details of the event will be unveiled on a special page in J-Stories by the end of January.

The inaugural Japan Global Innovators’ Forum, a pioneering English-language startup event that promoted dialogue between innovators in Japan and their potential supporters overseas, was held in March of this year at the Tokyo Innovation Base in central Tokyo and live-streamed globally. The event highlighted Japan-based social entrepreneurs aiming to scale globally while offering solutions to social and environmental challenges commonly shared across the world.

Event report: https://jstories.media/article/jgif-event-release

[Event Overview]

“2nd Japan Global Innovators’ Forum”

Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025

Time: 1-6 p.m. (Subject to change), followed by a networking event

Venue: Mainichi Hall (Located on a basement floor of Palaceside Building in Takebashi, Tokyo)

https://www.mai-b.co.jp/index-en.html

Language: English 

Organizers: J-Stories/Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting; Mainichi Future Creation Lab

Focus Categories (Expected) :

Age TechHealth TechMobilityGreen EnergySpecial sessions (featuring Japan’s regional startups and East Asian startups) 

CONTACT:
PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING
Editorial department:Toshi Maeda (Executive Editor)・Takanori Isshiki (Deputy Executive Editor)・Anita De Michele (Editorial Coordinator)
Email:info@pacificbridge.jp
Phone:+81- 50-5527-0955

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/japan-global-innovators-forum-2025-302339237.html

SOURCE PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING

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