Shanda launches V3: an AI-powered podcast creation platform built to make professional audio accessible to any creator

Shanda, an AI-powered podcast creation platform, has launched Version 3 of its platform, a significant rebuild designed to remove the technical and creative barriers that prevent independent creators from making professional-quality audio.

Founded by Dumi Mabhena, originally from Zimbabwe, and Paul Kassar, originally from France, Shanda was built out of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where the two co-founders were recognized in Poets & Quants’ Most Disruptive MBA Startups of 2024. The company is based in Washington, D.C.

The platform brings together recording, templates, transcription-based editing, AI audio enhancement, publishing, distribution, and AI-generated metadata (show notes, titles, episode descriptions, pull quotes, and timestamps) into a single workspace. The founding thesis is straightforward: audio is among the most human ways to share an idea, but the tools built around it have historically been designed for studios and engineers, not for independent creators.

Version 3 is the most complete expression of that thesis to date. Key features include:

• A rebuilt browser-based recording studio with automatic background noise removal, supporting 12 languages including Spanish, French, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, and Chinese
• A multitrack, text-based audio editor built natively in the browser
• An intent-based home screen with templates organized by creator use case -- from solo thought leadership to guided meditation to fireside conversations -- with demo content so users can see what’s possible before recording a single word
• Instant or scheduled publishing, with AI-generated written metadata produced automatically from the episode transcript
• Vinyl, a clean shareable episode page for each published episode
• An expanded media library with intro and outro music, ambient sounds, and sound effects
• Built-in analytics to track episode performance

“When we started Shanda, the thesis was simple,” said Dumi Mabhena, co-founder and CEO. “Podcasting is one of the most human ways to share an idea. But the tools around it were built for studios and engineers, not for the consultant who wants to extend their thought leadership, or the meditation teacher who records from their spare room, or the student using audio as part of their coursework. The friction was everywhere. We wanted to remove it.”

Shanda V3 is live now. The platform offers a Free tier, a Pro plan at $19/month, and a Business plan at $49/month, with a 7-day free trial on paid plans.

About Shanda

Shanda is an AI-powered podcast creation and publishing platform based in Washington, D.C. Founded by Georgetown MBA alumni Dumi Mabhena (Zimbabwe) and Paul Kassar (France), the company is headquartered at Georgetown’s Venture Lab, recognized as one of Poets & Quants’ Most Disruptive MBA Startups of 2024, and named to Technical.ly’s RealLIST Startups 2025 as one of DC’s hottest early-stage companies. Shanda’s mission is to make professional-quality audio accessible to any creator, regardless of technical skill or budget.