PR and communications platform Drumbeat has raised $2 million NZD in seed funding led by Icehouse Ventures, with support from Brand Fund.
Drumbeat is the latest martech company built inside venture studio New+Improved Ventures – the team behind brand tracking platform Tracksuit and market research platform Ideally.
The capital will support Drumbeat’s expansion into Australia and the United States, and will help scale the platform’s proprietary “awareness-building system”, which includes media relations management, content generation, campaign tracking and media clipping tools.
The raise comes as the way brands earn attention has fundamentally changed. As LLMs increasingly shape how people discover and evaluate companies, earned media coverage – not brand-owned content – is emerging as a key input into visibility.
Drumbeat launched in March 2026 and has over 50 customers in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It has backing from leading marketing figures Adam Ferrier of Thinkerbell and Henry Innis of Mutinex.
Since launch, Drumbeat customers have secured continual media coverage across all four of those markets and beyond, spanning mainstream, trade and emerging media.
“Storytelling is the oldest way humans have connected with each other – what’s changed is the technology,” said Barney Chunn, CEO and co-founder of Drumbeat.
“We’re now in an era where companies can tell their stories with a level of scale that was not possible before. Our mission is for every company to use the power of its own story to drive genuine connection with its audience, and real growth as a result.”
Jack McQuire, partner at Icehouse Ventures, said the investment reflects a broader shift in how businesses need to adapt in a world where curated content and trust are paramount.
“Speaking to customers, and witnessing their results, validated what we expected. PR is more important than ever, but too much of the industry still operates the way it did in the 90s. Drumbeat has brought that into the modern era, and it’s meant breakneck growth – for them, and their customers.
“The highest conviction investments we make are those driven by their teams. We have seen co-founders Barney, Fallon and Aaron grow and execute over a decade and know they have the experience to build for a real change in the market,” McQuire added.
