Oakland, CA — Pioneering music technology company, ElectroSpit, is the newest member of ICA’s investment portfolio. ElectroSpit, which makes the world’s only lightweight, fully-portable, tubeless talkbox – a type of music instrument – at its Oakland, CA headquarters, just received a $300K equity infusion from ICA.
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ElectroSpit was co-founded in 2017 by husband and wife team Bosko and Maya Kante. Bosko is a Grammy-award-winning musician, inventor and entrepreneur; Maya is a sales, marketing and operations expert, and is ElectroSpit’s Chief Marketing Officer. ElectroSpit’s flagship product, the ESX-1, is used by music producers and musicians worldwide such as Stevie Wonder and David Guetta, and it was recently featured on the the number one hit, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa.
The talkbox was popularized on hits by Roger Troutman, Peter Frampton, and Bon Jovi, but for years has remained inaccessible to many musicians because of its size, complexity, and difficulty of playing. ElectroSpit’s talkboxes change all of that: they are portable, easy to use, and come with a deeply integrated app so that creators can use them whenever and wherever inspiration strikes.
ElectroSpit was recently featured at ICA’s 2021 virtual Pitch Event and is poised for growth as it looks to expand its product offering, marketing capacity, and distribution and sales partnerships. ICA’s investment will allow the company to grow its team - it is currently hiring - increase research and development, and focus on product development – including the launch of new talkbox products that will allow the company to reach an even wider market.
“This is an exciting time of growth at ElectroSpit and having ICA alongside us has been huge,” said co-founder Bosko Kante. “The ICA team is a great partner in our growth and has ensured we are ready for scale and capital.”
As a nonprofit venture capital Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), ICA makes investments that support its mission to accelerate great businesses to close the racial and gender wealth gaps. ElectroSpit’s high-growth potential goes hand-in-hand with its alignment with ICA’s mission. The company is committed to building wealth in the Bay Area, and currently employs a team of six in Oakland, a majority of whom are people of color. Bosko and Maya have made a commitment to building good jobs as they grow their business, and plan to introduce profit sharing and job training for all of their workers.
“It is not often that you get to invest in the future of music technology! ElectroSpit is creating amazing products and is poised for growth, and I am thrilled to be working with Bosko and Maya as they scale the company,” said ICA’s Chief Investment Officer, John Gough. “What’s more, Bosko and Maya have built a company that is rooted in the Bay Area, ensuring that as ElectroSpit grows, its community will prosper,” he added.
ICA’s $300K equity investment is part of a $1M funding round for ElectroSpit. ICA’s investment is made using the new ICA Impact Note investment structure. The ICA Impact Note helps entrepreneurs prioritize social impacts–like good job creation, workforce diversity, and profit distribution–as they grow their business.
ElectroSpit has also launched a crowdfunding campaign through Republic, the only crowdfunding platform focused on raising equity for growing companies. By using the Republic platform, prospective investors will not only support the next phase of the company’s growth but have a chance to a part of its success. The crowdfunding campaign has already raised over $100K in additional capital, and remains open at ElectroSpit.com/invest.
Prior to working with ICA, ElectroSpit partnered with Zoo Labs, an incubator for music and technology. ElectroSpit is also part of the Black Music Entrepreneurship Incubator, which recently acquired property in West Oakland to serve as a cultural hub for musicians and artists of color.
ElectroSpit joins more than 20 companies in ICA’s Growth Fund portfolio. The Growth Fund makes equity investments of $100K to $1,000,000 and 72.5% of its investment dollars to date have gone to companies owned by people of color. ICA’s investment strategy intentionally focuses on racial and gender equity, and supports companies that are committed to our shared mission of wealth creation and distribution to a diverse workforce.
Find more about ElectroSpit and its products at electrospit.com and join its equity fundraising campaign on Republic.
