Mindset, which features personal stories from recording artists, today announced that it has raised $8.7 Million in seed funding.
Brothers Eric Nam, Eddie Nam, and Brian Nam co-founded the K-pop-focused podcast production company DIVE Studios. They noticed that podcasts featuring stars discussing their struggles in life were the best-performing content. Mindset was an offshoot of DIVE Studios, which was the inspiration for the Nam brothers.
This was a selling point that people wanted to see more of, so we began to look at ways to increase that value. How can we offer more of this valuable content for Gen Z and younger millennials? We realized that there wasn't the right platform for this kind of storytelling. So we created our own mobile platform to share these stories in audio format.
Mindset currently features four audio collections by artists such as Jae, Tablo and BM. Mindset co-founder Eric Nam is also a K-pop star. Each collection contains ten episodes that are approximately ten to twenty minutes in length. The introductory episode of each collection is free. However, to access the entire artist collection, $24.99. The app also offers Boosters for free, which are five-minute clips that offer motivational mantras and bedtime stories.
Nam stated that the primary source for income, particularly for musicians, was touring and music streams. Then came endorsement deals. But, Nam explained that they were able unlock this fourth source, which is monetizing stories. Pricing is very similar to the way they would price tickets or sell merchandise.
Mindset is not intended to be a therapy application. Nam stated that Mindset is not a therapy app. Nam explained that we don't pretend to be licensed therapists. It's a way for artists and fans to have more intimate experiences, to show their humanity behind the music.
Mindset launched as an MVP (minimum viable products) version in February. Nam refused to disclose active user and revenue numbers but stated that the app had gained enough traction by May that it received venture funding. Union Square Ventures is leading the round, along with strategic partners like Scooter Braun, a TQ Ventures executive who was recently in the news for his involvement in the Taylor Swift masters scandal. Opendoor co-founder Eric Wu and Kevin Lin, Twitch founder, are some of the other backers.
Nam said that Scooter Braun was a strategic investor.
Braun has worked with Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato.
Nam said that Hes opened up many doors for us to expand into the Hollywood and Western spaces, which we had previously been able to do from the Kpop space.
Mindset will use its seed funding for content creation, product development, and hiring. It is available for iOS and Android at the moment, but will be officially launched on September 14. Mindset will then release a new audio collection every two weeks from an actor or artist. Nam declined to reveal the names of these artists.
