Joyride began in 2012 as a voice-activated in-car app and has since pivoted to focus on making podcasting profitable. The company now offers a searchable catalog of more than 100,000 podcast programs and layers in a crowdfunding mechanism that lets fans pledge recurring monthly donations. In return for their support, listeners receive access to a special RSS feed containing bonus content, a model already generating about $250 per month for one early partner. Joyride ultimately aims to pay podcasters between $500 and $1,000 for every 10,000 episode downloads, aligning revenue with audience size. The platform is currently live on Android, accessible via a mobile website, and an iOS app is slated for release in early January 2015. Joyride is also part of Google’s Android Auto developer program, positioning the service for growth as connected cars proliferate. To date the startup has raised $1 million in venture funding from Cowboy Ventures, Freestyle Capital, and other backers.

Total raised

$1M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Mar 2013