Murfie, a Madison-based startup whose website allowed users to buy, sell and trade music, has shut down.
The startup announced on Nov. 22 in an email that it would cease its operations immediately. A message on its now defunct website reads: “Murfie has ceased operations. We thank you for your support over the years.”
Founded in 2011, Murfie set out to create a subscription-based service that enabled members to digitize CDs and vinyl albums and then sell, swap and stream them from a cloud-based platform. Customers would ship their record collections to Murfie for digitization, which were stored at Murfie's office in Middleton.
In the email that went out to customers, Murfie said: “The senior debt holders of the company will determine the process by which you may retrieve any physical media that you may have stored at Murfie, and will be in contact regarding it.”
The company was founded by Rabble co-founder Preston Austin, Phythonic AI co-founder Matt Younkle, Jason Gullickson and Steve Faulkner. They had all moved on from Murfie years ago and for the last couple years, the company was being led by CEO Rex Mangat. He assumed the position in May 2018, but says he left in September to pursue another opportunity. At the time of his departure, Murfie’s board of directors took on managing the day to day operations, Mangat said.
In 2012, Murfie was one of 13 startups in TechStars’ Boston cohort. At the time, Murfie entered the program’s Demo Day having already raised a $1.4 million round of funding led by Madison-based DaneVest Tech Fund. It is unclear whether Murfie raised additional financing.
