NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Report: Spotify raises $350 million on a $8 billion valuation
Spotify Inc. is reported to have raised $350 million on a high unicorn valuation of $8 billion.
It’s not entirely clear if the round was Series G, or an extension on its Series F round of late 2013.
The round hasn’t been officially disclosed but comes via CNBC who claims that the money is set to be used by Spotify as it “embarks on its next leg of growth.”
Founded in 2006, Spotify is a leader in the streaming music space, and offers both a much derided (by copyright holders) free tier that is ad supported, as well as a paid tier where users pay a set amount a month (roughly $10 a month depending on the country) to listen to music ad-free, and restriction free.
Spotify is said to have 60 million users over all, and 15 million paid subscribers.
The company has continued to grow its user base, including via a deal with Sony which saw it take over Sony’s Music Unlimited Service in January, and add millions of users again on top of its base.
World leading
The glory of Spotify is not only its ease of use, but its massive catolog.
OK, so Taylor Swift music isn’t on Spotify after she had a hissy fit and withdrew her music, but besides a marginally anorexic, confused, I don’t know if I’m a country singer or not artist, Spotify is at the top of its game.
You don’t accidently get 15 million people (and that is a slightly old figure) paying for your service if you’re not providing a service that isn’t s**t hot.
Yet another round though, one where not only could it be not clearly identified 6 or 7 letters down the alphabet, is a pile of money on top of an already large amount of money; the only bonus is that they haven’t raised $1 billion in venture capital yet.
Whether $1 billion in VC is the magic number of insanity of not isn’t clear, but tune in next time at SiliconANGLE if Spotify does yet another round.
But from a user sense, it’s money well spent.
Including the new round Spotify has raised, roughly, a staggering $838 million to-date. Previous investors include AFSquare, The Coca-Cola Company, Fidelity Ventures, Lakestar, Goldman Sachs, DST Global, Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Accel Partners, Sean Parker, and others.
photo credit: 5 st 1 års-konton till Spotify via photopin (license)
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