The story
2004–2009
7digital was founded in 2004 by Ben Drury and James Kane as a B2B digital music services company, building music download stores for record labels, brands and other retailers. 7digital Direct to Consumer (D2C) service was launched in 2005.
7digital is backed by technology venture capital firm Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe).
On 28 January 2008, 7digital raised £4.25m in its series B investor round, securing investment from various groups including Sutton Place Managers. The investment was to be used to launch 7digital.com in more European countries and the United States, along with expanding the sites offerings to include downloadable video and computer games.
In September 2008, 7digital.com was the first company in Europe to launch DRM-free MP3 downloads with all four major record labels.
As of October 2008, 7digital employed 45 people in London and had over 1.3 million registered customers.
On 3 August 2009, HMV bought a 50% holding in 7digital from its venture capital owners.
2010-2019
In 2011, 7digital expanded with an office in Luxembourg and in early 2012, they expanded to the US with an office in San Francisco, CA.
In October 2012, 7digital secured $10 million in funding from two new investors, Dolby and Imagination Technologies. HMV's stake was previously reduced to less than 20%, and following HMV entering into administration, retail restructuring specialists Hilco, are now the holders of these shares.
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On 25 November 2013, UBC Media announced merger plans with 7digital by way of a reverse takeover. The merger was completed in May 2014, forming 7digital Group Plc.
The company entered a business relationship with MediaMarktSaturn in 2017, which it ended in 2019, in exchange for a cash payment of €4 million. The end of the partnership led to a need for 7digital to raise capital by the third quarter of 2019 to remain operational. The share price fell in response to these developments, with a loss of 63% on 9 April and further losses on 10 April 2019.
From Wikipedia’s article on 7digital, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5