Podchaser, a startup building what it calls” IMDB for podcasts,”just recently revealed that it has raised$ 4 million in a funding round led by Greycroft. To put it simply, it’s a site where– similar to the Amazon-owned Web Motion Picture Database— users can look up who’s appeared in which podcasts, rate and examine those podcasts and include them lists. CEO Bradley Davis informed me that the start-up’s “dynamic, interesting community of podcast geeks” have actually already produced 8.5 million podcast credits in the database.

Davis said this is something he just wished to exist and was, in fact, persuaded that it had to exist already. When he realized that it didn’t, he posted on Reddit asking whether anybody was willing to construct the business with him– which is how he got in touch with his ultimate co-founder and CTO Ben Slinger in Australia. (Podchaser is a totally dispersed company, with Davis currently based in Oklahoma City.)

To be clear, Davis does not think podcast geeks are the only ones benefiting from the listings. Rather, he suggested that it works for anyone seeing to find out more about podcasts and find new ones, with Podchaser’s month-to-month active users quintupling over the past year.

For example, he stated that a person of the most popular pages is political leader Pete Buttigieg’s profile, where visitors don’t simply discover Buttigieg’s own podcast but see others on which he’s appeared. (You can also use Podchaser to get more information about TechCrunch’s Equity, Mixtape and Original Content podcasts, though those profiles could stand to be completed a bit more.)

There has been limitless discussion about how to fix podcast discovery, and while Davis isn’t claiming that Podchaser will solve it wholesale, he believes it can be part of the service– not simply through its own database, but through the broader Podcast Taxonomy job that it’s arranging.

“I think if we are successful at standardizing a lot fo the terminology, and if we do an analysis of all podcasts, of how popular they are, that [will assist many listeners] to cull and discover the good stuff,” he said.

Podchaser plans to include brand-new features that will further motivate user contributions, like a gamification system and a discussion system.

While the consumer website is totally free, the startup recently launched a paid product called Podchaser Pro, which supplies reach and market information across 1.8 million podcasts. It also monetizes by supplying podcast players with access to its credits through an API.

Davis stated the startup was “lucky” that it decided to construct a database that’s “agnostic” from any particular podcast gamer.

“So we had a great deal of latitude to deal with those platforms, we incorporate with a number of those platforms and you’re visiting a great deal of our credits appearing [in podcast gamers],” he stated.

In addition to Greycroft, Advancit Capital, LightShed Ventures, Powerhouse Capital, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners and Poplar Ventures also took part in the round, as did TrendKite founder A.J. Bruno, Ad Results Media CEO Marshall Williams and Shamrock Capital Partner Mike LaSalle.

“Even in the face of a pandemic, the podcast market continues to grow at a breakneck speed,” stated Greycroft co-founder and chairman Alan Patricof in a declaration. “The demand from consumers and brands is pressing. Podchaser’s information and discovery tools are vital to taking podcasting to brand-new heights.”

Article curated by RJ Shara from Source. RJ Shara is a Bay Area Radio Host (Radio Jockey) who talks about the startup ecosystem – entrepreneurs, investments, policies and more on her show The Silicon Dreams. The show streams on Radio Zindagi 1170AM on Mondays from 3.30 PM to 4 PM.