Music cube venture to scale new heights

An Edinburgh-based tech business that has created an interactive cube for children to study music is looking to scale up after securing its largest funding round to date.

Skoogmusic has netted £560,000 from the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise; Old College Capital, the in-house venture capital fund of Edinburgh University; and a number of private investors.

The new investment means that the venture has raised a total of £2 million to date. It has also been successful on the tech crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

The inventors of the Skoog – an interactive cube for children to “learn, explore and have fun making music” – will use the investment to fund an international sales and marketing drive following deals with two new global distribution partners – Techdata in Europe and Ingram Micro in the US.

Company co-founder Ben Schogler will step into the role of Skoogmusic chief executive with tech industry stalwart Andy Gordon established as chairman. One of the funding round’s backers, private equity investor Paul Murray, will join the business as a nonexecutive director.

Schogler said: “This is another hugely exciting step for Skoog. The investment enables us to work with Apple and partners like Ingram Micro and Techdata to reach more children in more countries around the world.

“It’s not what you play that’s important but it is crucial that you do play. And this investment means more play and more music for everyone.” 0 Ben Schogler will now step into the role of CEO