Singapore’s karaoke start-up Popsical raises US$6.9 M

Popsical, a Singapore-based karaoke start-up, has raised US$6.9 million in Series A funding. The round was led by local VC firm Quest Ventures, with participation from government-owned investor SEEDS Capital.

Singapore’s karaoke start-up Popsical raises US$6.9 M. Founded in 2016 by three Karaoke enthusiasts. Popsical has created a home karaoke system combining a compact palm-sized device with a mobile app. Popsical enjoys a competitive advantage. Also, It can pair up with an unlimited number of mobile devices at the same time, unlike conventional karaoke services. Also, It uses a licensed cloud-based streaming system. The system includes a 14-language interface and a library with over 200,000 songs. The songs updated daily with the latest hits and song requests from its users. Furthermore, the system also has unique vocal effects to make one sound like a rock star or a chipmunk.

As announced by karaoke start-up Popsical, the funding will be used for hiring go-to-market talent, market expansion, and developing Popsical’s roadmap of products and software-as-a-service offerings.

In addition, Jeffrey Seah, a partner at Quest, will join the start-up’s board of directors.

“We like that Popsical seems well-positioned to liberate the location, performance, and technical equipment dependency of karaoke,” said Mr. Seah. He added that Quest anticipates increasingly interesting opportunities for Popsical to exploit as video meetings are becoming a part of family and community life across the world.

Lockdown Impact on karaoke start-up Popsical

The lockdown has led to an increase in demand for karaoke start-up Popsical as people are finding ways to do activities they would go out to do at home. As a result, Popsical’s average monthly sales were 47 percent higher in March-May than in February.

Currently, karaoke start-up Popsical is available in Singapore and Malaysia. It has plans to expand to Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and outside of South-east Asia. The Co-founder and CEO Faruq Marican said in a statement that they believe karaoke would be an absolute hit in India due to the incredible musical tradition. He also added that as karaoke is growing immensely in popularity in Central Asia, including places like Kazakhstan, Popsical is looking to expand there.

karaoke start-up Popsical’s investors also include Apricot Capital, Teo Heng KTV, Cash Studios KTV, OMG Ventures, and Mediacorp.