Sonic Academy – Sound first investment for Invest Growth Fund

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Sonic Academy has become the first investment for the newly launched £5m Invest Growth Fund, just one of the funds which makes up the £8m suite of initiatives which was launched on the 2 July 2009 at Stormont.

The Belfast based company combines existing delivery of training to local clients with a new web portal for anyone interested in music technology. It offers high quality video tutorials and resources, features, news and reviews as well as an online community where knowledge can be shared among music enthusiasts. Sonic has received a total investment of £150,000. This comprised of £100,000 provided by the Invest Growth Fund (funded by Invest Northern Ireland); and a further £50,000 from a Northern Ireland business angel.

The deal involved the merger of the web portal activities of Music Create Online Ltd into the existing business and Sonic Music Services Ltd to form a new combined business going forward. The investment was in Sonic Music Services Ltd. The money will be used to enable Sonic to strengthen and develop the web based business as well as to support the growth strategy of the existing offline business.

Speaking about plans for the future of Sonic Music Services Ltd, Kevin Traynor, Managing Director said: “Unlocking this investment means that the Sonic team can move quickly to exploit the significant demand for new content from our rapidly expanding customer base. Having this mix of investment also strengthens our management capabilities considerably and opens up a new level of networking for us”.

The Invest Growth Fund was launched in July 2009 and this is its first investment. It is administered by London-based fund manager E-Synergy Ltd, from their offices in Belfast. One of E-Synergy’s founding directors, Richard Brook, who led the deal, commented “This is an exciting start to the activities of the Invest Growth Fund in Northern Ireland. We look forward to an increasing flow of high quality deals and to being able to bring support to enterprising companies in Northern Ireland like Sonic.”