Turns out Spotify didn’t need a fresh deal with Universal to unlock hundreds of millions of investment Dollars after all.
The streaming music service was last month reported to have attracted US $400m in a new funding round.
However, it was subsequently rumoured that some of this investment consortium were biding their time to see if and when Universal Music Group re-signed a global licensing deal.
Universal and Spotify’s current agreement expires this year. UMG is understood to be pressuring Spotify to place time limits on consumers that use its free tier, in a bid to push more of them to become paying customers.
In the end, it didn’t matter: whatever the outcome of these negotiations, Spotify has now secured $350m in new funding, according to CNBC.
The investment is led by Goldman Sachs and only represents the first wave of cash – others may yet commit to investing, adding to the total sum.
According to MBW estimates, the injection takes Spotify’s total third-party funding since launching in 2008 to approximately $900m.
The biggest funding round drawn in by the music company to date is a $250m haul from Technology Crossover Ventures.
The new cash reportedly gives Spotify an $8bn valuation – double the market cap of personalised radio service Pandora.
As you can see below, the latest investment round is the seventh funding round in Spotify’s history.
In FY2013, Spotify’s net losses hit €58m as its total revenues climbed to €747m.
Spotify: investment rounds to date
- November 2013: $250m – Technology Crossover Ventures
- November 2012*: $100m – AFSquare, The Coca-Cola Company, Fidelity Ventures, Lakestar, Goldman Sachs
- June 2011: $100m – DST Global, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Accel Partners
- February 2010: $12.3m – Founders Fund, Sean Parker
- August 2009: $50m – La Ka-shing, Horizons Ventures, Wellingtons Partners
- October 2008: $21.6m – La Ka-shing, Creandum, Northzone, Horizons Ventures
* An additional funding round is believed to have taken place in 2012 for an undisclosed amount.
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