Spinlet
Finnish-founded mobile music app that relaunched toward Africa after a 2011 Verod Capital investment and became Nigeria's first ISRC manager in 2015; current status unclear.
- Based in
- Lagos (operating base from at least 2015; founding location was in Finland)., Finland (founding); Nigeria (operating base from at least 2015, per a trade interview conducted at the company's Lagos office).
- Founded
- 2006, in Finland, per the 31 May 2011 PR Newswire release, which names founders Sami Leino and Ville Leino.
- Founders
- Sami Leino and Ville Leino, named as the app's Finnish creators in the 31 May 2011 PR Newswire release announcing Verod Capital's investment.
Spinlet was a mobile music platform founded in Finland in 2006 by Sami Leino and Ville Leino as a cloud-based streaming and storage app. In 2011 it took a significant, undisclosed investment from Lagos-based Verod Capital Management, after which Verod director Eric Idiahi became its chief executive and the company reoriented toward African markets, operating out of Lagos by at least 2015.
Under later CEO Nkiru Balonwu, Spinlet described itself as a digital media and distribution company built around African music, artist video and advertising, available by download, ad-supported streaming or subscription. In October 2015 it was named Nigeria’s first ISRC manager, giving it a formal role assigning recording codes for Nigerian releases. Balonwu left the company in 2016.
Spinlet’s current status is unclear. Its website no longer resolves, and no trade press report of a sale, write-down or closure could be located; third-party startup databases describe it as inactive but disagree with each other on the detail. Verod’s own current site does not list Spinlet among its holdings, and no party has stated publicly whether Verod still holds its stake.