Thursday, September 24, 2015
Earbits Acquired By You42, After Near Death Experience
Los Angeles-based Earbits, the streaming music service led by Joey Flores, which focuses on new artist discovery, has been acquired by Atlanta-based You42. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Earbits, which had been backed by Y Combinator, Charles River Ventures, and Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Wordpress, said that it is now planning to double its staff in the next year, after the last-minute save by You42. You42 was the un-named party which revived Earbits from the dead in June of 2014, when the company had shut down as a result of running out of funding. Earbits was co-founded by Joey Flores and Yotam Rosenbaum. Earbits near-death experience occurred last year, as the company failed to find funding, and the founders were all but ready to turn out the lights; You42 apparently stepped up and has been funding operations since the shutdown, with the acquisition finally closing recently. The company said it is now up to thirteen members of its team and hopes to ramp up over the next 12 months to double that.