Kano, which sells hardware targeted at musicians and creatives, is launching a new equity investment round that’s open to the public after cutting ties with controversial rapper Kanye West.
West, whose legal name is Ye, collaborated with Kano on the startup’s Stem Player audio device and at one point had offered to acquire the company for $80 million, CEO Alex Klein told CNBC.After a dispute over terms, and a series of antisemitic outbursts from Ye, Kano walked away from the deal and in January ended its commercial agreement with Ye for good.
Klein is hoping to look past the ordeal, and is planning to use the funding to invest in the development of a new product, the Stem Headphones.British audio and computing hardware startup Kano is planning to raise equity funding from its users and fans, as the company tries to chart a path forward after cutting business ties with Kanye West, also known as Ye.
The firm will launch a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube on Tuesday, Kano’s CEO Alex Klein told CNBC. Ordinary users will be able own a slice of Kano alongside its institutional backers, which include Microsoft and billionaire investor Jim Breyer’s Breyer Capital.It’s seeking to raise $900,000 from individual investors in the U.K. and Europe. The company also plans to expand the crowdfund to the U.S.Kano, which sells hardware targeted at musicians and creatives, has undergone a few dramatic twists over the years.
Initially started as a venture to help kids code with easy to build computer kits, the firm has since moved much of its focus to developing audio products, the main one being its Stem Player, a puck-shaped device that lets users split songs up into individual tracks, like vocals, bass, or drums.Kano agreed tie-ups with big brands to launch a select few products, including a Harry Potter wand users could customize through code, a Windows version of its modular Kano PC, and a coding kit inspired by Disney’s.
“Frozen.” It has since ceased production of those devices, and no longer sells any of its products in big-box retailers.In 2019, Klein met with Kanye West, the disgraced rapper and musician who has been increasingly ostracized from the business world over his antisemitic remarks.The two would go on to discuss the beginnings of what eventually became the Stem Player. It was originally named the “Donda Stem Player,” a reference to West’s 10th studio album, Donda. Ye’s 11th album, Donda 2, was released exclusively on the Stem Player, on Feb. 23, 2022.
Then came Ye’s antisemitic outbursts. In October, West made several harmful remarks about Jewish people, including repeated attacks on “Jewish media,” invoking the antisemitic claim that Jewish people disproportionately control the media.Those beliefs were expressed privately as well as publicly, according to Klein, who, in an exclusive CNBC interview, recalls one of Ye’s advisors saying the rapper couldn’t go through with a deal to acquire Kano “because one of the investors is Jewish.
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