Funding story
Global online audio distribution platform SoundCloud has been a major player in the online entertainment segment for a very long time. The Berlin-based company was established in August 2007 in Stockholm by Swedes Ljung and Wahlfross. The former was a sound designer and the latter was an artiste.
Recently, SoundCloud managed to notch up a significant success by raising 300 million Swedish krona-equivalent to 35 million USD-in debt funding from Tennenbaum Capital Partners. This news was reported by Swedish news site Digital. Another 600 million Swedish krona, equivalent to 70 million USD, can be raised by the company through convertible bonds, as per the deal.
About SoundCloud’s recent achievements
SoundCloud had earlier raised $60 million from GGV, IVP and The Chernin Group. This may thus be the culmination of the raising of $150 billion, which was first made aware to the public by Quibb in December 2014. Previously, the company had raised $60 million in Series D in Jan 2014. On that occasion, the round was led by Index Venture Partners and the Chernin Group.
Regarding Tennenbaum Capital Partners, SoundCloud’s partners in this venture-it is a US-based firm which specializes in debt financing. It focuses on investing in North American middle-market companies.
About the segment as a whole, and future prospects
The online music sharing and purchasing industry has expanded by leaps and bounds in the recent past, with the likes of Apple, Google and Amazon leveraging their massive user base to create magnificently powerful platforms. SoundCloud, however, appears to be more than capable of holding its own, with an estimated 175 million unique monthly listeners, as of Dec 2014. Content creators continue to upload about 12 hours worth of audio each minute. It also announced a partnership with HEOS by Denon in July 2015-an alliance which is expected to provide value-added services to listeners. Thus, it can comfortably be said that SoundCloud has a bright future.
Visit the SoundCloud website for more info.
