PodX Group acquires majority share in British based Goldhawk Productions

In September PodX announced its acquisition of a majority share in French podcast production company, Nouvelles Écoutes. PodX Group are now becoming the majority shareholders in Goldhawk Productions, a unique production company specializing in audio drama and fiction with a catalog of premium IP rights. The company is behind global success formats such as Passenger List, Mumbai Crime, Life After, The Cipher, Tumanbay and Restart. Goldhawk is PodX Group’s first investment in the UK.

Established by multi-award-winning husband-and-wife team John Scott Dryden and Ayeesha Menon, Goldhawk Productions has become one of the most distinctive and successful audio fiction production companies in the world. Goldhawk’s overriding mission is great storytelling in sound. The company has made shows all over the world, and extensively in the US and India.

Several of its shows have had spin-off novels and been optioned to TV. Goldhawk’s work has won recognition at major festivals around the world including the Webby Awards, New York Festivals, Prix Europa, Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards, Peabody Awards, BBC Audio Drama Awards and the Sony Awards.

Current available fiction podcasts produced by Goldhawk include Passenger List, Mumbai Crime, The Cipher, Life After, Tumanbay, TakeOver, and the recently released thriller Restart, set in the world of video gaming. A new original thriller Young Blood, starring Geoffrey Arend, has just been released by Audible.

John is a writer, director and executive producer. With an impressive track record creating shows for BBC radio, he was hired by Panoply (now Megaphone) in New York as Head of Scripted Content. Before that he had also been Head of Drama for RNZ, New Zealand. John is a recipient of a Peabody Award and has made shows for Audible, PRX/Radiotopia, Wondery, iHeart and the BBC.

He created the fiction podcast Passenger List, a mystery thriller starring Kelly Marie Tran about a plane that disappears mid-flight between London and New York, and the historical fantasy series Tumanbay which ran for four seasons and led to two spin-off novels. His work for the BBC includes the thrillers Severed Threads, A Kidnapping, Pandemic and The Reluctant Spy. He also co-created and executive produced for BBC Sounds the hit YA fiction podcast The Cipher and recently released Restart.

Ayeesha is a writer, creator and producer. Her modern-day adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities won Best Adaptation and her Midnight’s Children won the Outstanding Achievement award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards. She presents the podcast Mumbai Crime, a curated series of audio thrillers from India, released by PRX/Radiotopia. Her credits include the original detective series Undercover Mumbai for the BBC, Jungle Book, TakeOver, and her acclaimed audio adaptations of Vikas Swarup’s best-selling novel Q&A (aka Slumdog Millionaire) and Naguib Mafouz’s The Cairo Trilogy both of which won Sony Radio Awards.

Staffan Rosell, CEO and Member of the Board, PodX Group: ”Goldhawk Productions is a world class production company pioneering in fiction podcasts. They have achieved massive global success with formats such as Passenger List, Tumanbay and Mumbai Crime. We are incredibly proud and happy to partner up with John and Ayeesha.”

Ayeesha Candida Menon, Director and Executive Producer, Goldhawk Productions: ”Audio fiction may be the niche end of the podcasting industry but it’s also the fastest growing. Storytelling in sound is so powerful and affecting when it’s done well - and it’s our passion. Joining PodX is an exciting opportunity that will help us and our team connect with more listeners around the world.”

John Scott Dryden, Director and Executive Producer, Goldhawk Productions: ”Having been the entire C-suite of Goldhawk till now I’m thrilled to be joining PodX, a network that puts creators at its core. This is an exciting opportunity to help Goldhawk grow, connect with other creators, and cement its position as one of the world’s leading makers of audio fiction.”

About PodX Group

PodX Group is a Stockholm-headquartered company committed to investing in international podcast IP rights: offering financing, as well as support around business development, internationalization and commercialisation to emerging podcast producers and creators. PodX Group invests in podcast producers who create the best content, and takes on the role as an active partner to jointly develop the podcast companies into leading producers in each market and segment. Additionally, partner companies of PodX Group become part of a global network of renowned podcast companies that enables collaboration and synergies across the group. PodX Group is headquartered in Stockholm with employees in ten markets including Sweden, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Latin America. PodX Group is founded by Patrick Svensk (founder of Kanal 5 in Sweden and international TV production company groups Zodiak Media and Nice Entertainment), Staffan Rosell (previously Nordic Head of Viacom, SBS Radio, Discovery Radio, and most recently CEO of Bauer Media, where he founded the audio entertainment platforms Radioplay and Podplay), and Fredrik Said (global expansion at Universum and Acast, leading Acast’s establishments in Mexico, Canada, and Ireland).

About Qarlbo

PodX Group’s main shareholder and financier is the Swedish investment group Qarlbo AB, founded in 2007 by the EQT founder and Chairman Conni Jonsson and family. Qarlbo is an active owner that builds and invests in long term trends, great talent and companies that make a difference. One of Qarlbo’s largest investments is PopHouse Entertainment Group, co-owned with the ABBA founder Björn Ulvaeus.