Streaming giant Spotify has acquired Irish safeguarding tech start-up Kinzen for an undisclosed amount two years after first partnering with the Dublin-based company to improve platform safety.

Spotify said Kinzen's technology is particularly suited for podcasting and audio formats, making its value to the Swedish company "clear and unmatched".

“We’ve long had an impactful and collaborative partnership with Kinzen and its exceptional team," said Dustee Jenkins, Spotify’s global head of public affairs.

"Now, working together as one, we’ll be able to even further improve our ability to detect and address harmful content, and importantly, in a way that better considers local context.

“This investment expands Spotify’s approach to platform safety, and underscores how seriously we take our commitment to creating a safe and enjoyable experience for creators and users.”

In Association with

“The combination of tools and expert insights is Kinzen’s unique strength that we see as essential to identifying emerging abuse trends in markets and moderating potentially dangerous content at scale,” said Sarah Hoyle, Spotify’s head of trust and safety.

“This expansion of our team, combined with the launch of our Safety Advisory Council, demonstrates the proactive approach we’re taking in this important space.”

Spotify's acquisition of Kinzen comes after several controversies around Covid misinformation being spread on The Joe Rogan Experience, the popular podcast hosted by Joe Rogan, who signed an exclusive, nine-figure deal with the streamer in 2020.

The Safety Advisory Council was formed by the company in June to provide input on harmful content.

Kinzen was founded as Neva Labs in 2017 by ex-Twitter Dublin chief and Storyful founder Mark Little and Storyful colleagues Áine Kerr and Paul Watson, the latter of whom no longer works for the company.

"So proud of the team at Kinzen. So excited by the purpose and mission of our future with ⁦@Spotify," Little wrote in a tweet celebrating the news.

"So proud of the incredible team at Kinzen. So proud to announce we've been acquired by @Spotify to continue our purpose-driven impactful work," Kerr wrote in her own tweet following the announcement.

Little and Kerr own more than half of the shares in Kinzen, which had racked up losses of over €2.5m to the end of the 2020, according to the latest available financial data. The company employed nine people that year.

Kinzen was hired by the Department of Health to identify misinformation on social media related to Covid-19 and the state vaccination programme on a nine-month contract worth €78,000 last year.

(Pic: Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)