Backer: Superstar Kylie Minogue
A British music streaming service backed by Kylie Minogue, Simon Cowell and veteran private equity baron Guy Hands is set to announce tie-ups with some of the world’s biggest companies this week.
The venture’s many other well-heeled backers include singer Sheryl Crow and Strictly Come Dancing winner Alesha Dixon.
ROXi plans to reveal deals with Sky, LG and Samsung during a conference in Las Vegas, industry sources told The Mail on Sunday.
The company offers a streaming service that allows users to play tunes and music videos via smart TVs connected to the internet. Smart televisions can be used to play your choice of tens of millions of songs. Users can also watch the original video or one made by ROXi.
The company is understood to have been valued at £100 million in a recent funding round.
ROXi offers a subscription service as well as a free-to-use app that includes adverts.
It is aiming to become the Netflix of Music on the basis that smart TVs can be rivals to devices such as the Amazon Echo and other smart speakers.
ROXi was set up by entrepreneur Rob Lewis, who founded a music company called Omnifone in the early 2000s before selling it to Apple.
Lewis said: ‘We’re committed to turning the TV into a replacement for the smart speaker or Amazon Echo. We believe TVs should be the centre of home entertainment. We can’t further discuss partners, but there will be an announcement this week.’
