The former head of Google Ventures has joined the board of UK music startup Kobalt

bill maris google ventures vc

The former head of Google Ventures Bill Maris is joining the board of UK music startup Kobalt.

Bill Maris is the head of venture capital firm Section 32, which is also participating in Kobalt's Series D funding round with a $14 million (£10.5 million) investment.

This brings Kobalt's overall growth capital to $89 million (£67.3 million).

"Bill is one of the most important investors and leaders in the tech community," said Willard Ahdritz, Founder and CEO of Kobalt.

"Having him join our board is not only a great moment for Kobalt but also for the music industry that needs more tech experience. He's been with us since 2014 and is now doubling down to help us see through our mission of bringing the music industry into the digital age."

Kobalt is an independent music services company that takes care of the rights of artists, songwriters, publishers, and labels, and aims to help the music industry to better navigate the digital age.

Maris is joining the company to help them do just that. "The royalty collection business has been stuck in the dark ages, and artists often have to wait for months or years to get paid for use of their work – if they get paid at all," he said in a statement.

"Kobalt is the only company to have created a full multi-rights content management system to fix this broken business model, and I couldn't be happier to join the board and invest again in Willard and the team at Kobalt."

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