Diana Kinyanjui 
Delaware-incorporated, South African-founded music startup Moodswing has secured a global partnership with Sony Music Entertainment (SME), granting access to tracks from Sony’s world-class artist catalog for integration into its AI-powered communication app.
Moodswing lets users merge their voice notes and conversations with instrumental background music or music clips based on their mood. Its AI engine analyzes the emotion in a user’s voice and recommends music from genres such as happy, romantic, exciting, dramatic, funny, and more — turning everyday conversations into expressive, emotional, and shareable moments.
Co-Founder & CEO of Moodswing Jimmmy Muteba said: “Music is the language of emotion — it helps us express what words alone can’t. With over 3.5 billion people using messaging apps globally, the next evolution of communication is emotional. We live in a world where people don’t just want to play music — they want to play with it. Moodswing is opening a completely new, deeper emotional layer of communication — letting people add music to their conversations based on their mood. Partnering with Sony Music marks a major step forward, giving us access to a world-class artist catalog and reinforcing the scale of what we’re building.”
Founded by Jimmy Muteba, a South African and French entrepreneur and recording artist (known as CAPSO), Moodswing builds on his deep experience in music and media. As an artist, he has collaborated with global stars including Wyclef Jean and Fally Ipupa, created TRACE Music Star — Africa’s largest music talent search with over nine million users and celebrity judges such as Akon and Keri Hilson — which won Best Pan-African Initiative at AfricaCom, and created and executive produced the TV format The Coolest OG’s, licensed to Netflix and sold internationally to Banijay — the studio behind Survivor, Big Brother, and MasterChef — and nominated for Competition Show of the Year at the TBI Content Innovation Awards.
Moodswing has also recently secured a strategic partnership with TRACE, the leading global Afro-urban media group.
“The mission of TRACE is to empower and entertain our people — the young audiences who love Afro-urban culture, but also the artists who create it. Anything that helps artists monetize their talent makes sense. And if we believe that a product is truly relevant in today’s digital world, it’s also our duty to support it. The other reason we decided to support Moodswing is because of the longstanding professional relationship we have with its founder. Over the past 15 years we have worked closely with him. His passion, resilience, flexibility and ability to always find solutions in difficult environments makes it worth our support. We all know that when we invest in a project, it’s not just about the project but the people behind it. I can already see the evolution and how much they will listen — to advice, the market, and all the users of the product — to make sure they always find the best solutions to answer their needs. And given the massive usage of messaging apps, bringing added value, differentiation, and joy to that experience is a major plus. The support of key players across the music industry is a testament to the quality and growing interest the product has right now for the entire industry. When you add all of this together, you have the elements of a recipe that made us decide to invest” stated Olivier Laouchez, Founder & Executive Chairman of TRACE.
Moodswing is currently raising its pre-seed round, with several prominent angel investors already on board, including:
• Zachariah George – Managing Partner, Launch Africa Ventures
• Raj Kulasingam – Senior Counsel, Dentons; Venture Investor, SM River/V&R; Angel Investor of the Year, 500 Startups
• Audrey Verhaeghe – CEO, Anza Capital
• Nadia Seemuth – Managing Partner, Jambaar Capital
• Rajiv Daya – Head of Investments, NEXT176
• Gérald Croonenberghs – Managing Director, Silikin Village; Board Member, TEXAF
• Yosuke Yoshida – CEO, Emurgo Kepple Ventures & EMURGO MEA (Cardano)
Zachariah George, Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures, said: “One of the reasons I invested is because Moodswing is genuinely one of the most innovative products I’ve seen at the intersection of music and messaging — two of the most engaged digital behaviours globally. It allows users to layer emotionally matched soundtracks onto voice notes — something I never thought was actually possible. The fact that it will also work for live calls is just brilliant. It’s intuitive, works seamlessly across existing messaging apps, and lets musicians extend their reach across multiple platforms without any incremental work. What excites me most is that Moodswing’s path to monetization is clear — from its freemium model and creator tools to brand partnerships, and ultimately, music licensing, which gives this a serious route to market. And Jimmy has serious music-industry chops and vision. It’s hard to find someone as passionate and relentless as he is. He’s up working all hours of the night, across multiple time zones, to get things done. All in all, it’s culturally relevant, has strong early traction, and a founder and team who can execute. That’s why I’m proud to be one of its early backers.”
Raj Kulasingam, Senior Counsel at Dentons and Venture Investor at SM River/V&R, added “They’re solving a pretty big problem. It’s not about needing another messaging app — it’s about the fact that many creatives and musicians don’t make much money from streaming. Moodswing gives them another revenue stream — and young people already send emojis and stickers; now they can share their emotions through music too. The fact that they’ve closed a deal with a major music label means users will have access to all sorts of amazing tracks they can use in their conversations — and this gives me even more conviction in what they’re building. I’ve gotten to know Jimmy quite well — he’s one of the hardest-working founders I’ve backed — and our many conversations inspired us to come up with the catchphrase ‘turn your music into cash’ (#TMC) which underpins all of this.”
Selected among the top 12 startups from more than 750 applicants in the Création Africa 2024 accelerator — an initiative launched by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and led by the Embassy of France and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) to support entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative industries — Moodswing is currently live in beta on iOS and Android.
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