University of Cambridge's automated music production app developer Jukedeck has been picked up by internet technology firm Bytedance's TikTok.
Jukedeck, a UK-based digital music production software developer spun out of University of Cambridge, has been acquired by TikTok, a video-based social media platform owned by internet technology producer Bytedance, for an undisclosed sum, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Jukedeck had developed an online software platform that exploited artificial intelligence to automatically compose original, royalty-free music based on certain parameters, such as genre and tempo, set by the user. GUV covered the spinout in-depth in 2016.
The app had reportedly been downloaded 800 million times but is no longer available, with Jukedeck removing its website and replacing it with a brief message noting it was unable to reveal more details at this point in time.
TechCrunch speculated TikTok would integrate Jukedeck’s ability to add music to videos into its own product.
JukeDeck last raised a $3m series A round in 2015 led by Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the patient capital fund allied to the university.
Parkwalk Advisors, the fund management division of commercialisation firm IP Group, supplied a share of the series A funding together with venture firms Backed and Playfair Capital, adding to a $835,000 seed sum supplied by CIC in August 2014.
