Castbox
Company typePrivate
IndustryPodcasting
Founded2016
FounderRenee Wang
HeadquartersSan Francisco
Websitecastbox.fm

Castbox (Chinese: 鑄造箱) is a Hong Kong-based podcast company. The company both hosts, and produces its own podcasts.

Founding

Castbox was founded in 2016 by company CEO Renee Wang in Beijing, China.[1][2] It also has offices in San Francisco and Hong Kong.[3]

App

Castbox is an app that distributes free podcasts. By 2019, one million podcasts had been made available through Castbox,[4] including about fifty million podcast episodes.[1] Castbox also has a premium platform.[5] In June 2019, Castbox integrated with Waze, allowing playback controls to pause, skip, or restart episodes.[6]

Podcasts

In addition to its library of podcasts from other distributors, Castbox also produces its own shows. In 2018, Castbox partnered with Heard Well on the podcast series Heard Well Now, which highlights early career musical artists.[7] As of 2018, Castbox produced 25 different original podcasts,[8][9] with This Sounds Serious, being released in 2019.[10]

Funding

In 2017, the company raised $16 million,[11] and an additional $13.5 million in 2018.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Robinson, Melia. "An ex-Googler sold her home to fund her startup — and she just got $13 million to build the 'Netflix of podcasting'". Business Insider.
  2. ^ "Helping indie podcasters get paid". Fast Company. September 28, 2018.
  3. ^ "After raising $16M in funding, CastBox plans to fix podcast discovery". 12 October 2017.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "10 best podcast apps for Android! (Updated 2019)". Android Authority. April 5, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Porch, Scott (June 27, 2018). "Is the "Netflix of podcasts" moment finally here?". Fast Company.
  6. ^ "Castbox is Latest Audio App With Waze Support". The Mac Observer. June 19, 2019.
  7. ^ "Heard Well & Castbox Launch New Podcast Bringing Musicians and Online Creators Together". Billboard.
  8. ^ "CastBox reveals $16 million in funding as global surge in podcast investment continues". October 12, 2017.
  9. ^ "Castbox turns to blockchain to help podcasters get paid". 7 July 2018.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ "This Week in Podcasts: Nicole and Sasheer Are Best Friends". Archived from the original on 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  11. ^ "Podcasting App Transcribes Shows for Better Search". The New York Observer. October 12, 2017.
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