Soundcloud bags $75m funding from Pandora owner Sirius XM
Veteran music streaming site Soundcloud today announced it has received a $75m (£58m) cash injection from Sirius XM, the owner of US streaming giant Pandora.
Soundcloud said it will use the funding to speed up its product development and enhance services for its users.
The investment follows an ad sales partnership between Soundcloud and Pandora, which was launched last year.
The deal allows advertisers to buy Soundcloud’s ad inventory directly through Pandora, providing them a combined US audience of more than 100m listeners.
The fresh funding will come as a major boost to Soundcloud, which was launched in Berlin in 2007 as a means of sharing music between producers.
The firm came close to collapse amid pressure from new rivals such as Spotify. However, in 2017 it secured backing from Raine Group and Singapore investment giant Temasek worth a reported $170m.
Soundcloud said it set all-time highs for platform engagement, subscriber and revenue last year.
“Soundcloud’s three consecutive years of strong financial performance directly reflect the success of our creator-led growth strategy,” said Soundcloud chief executive Kerry Trainor.
“We’ve built a great relationship with Sirius XM through our highly successful Pandora ad sales agreement, and their investment gives us added capital flexibility to accelerate our vision and take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise.”
New York-based Sirius XM operates satellite and digital radio services in the US, while its streaming service Pandora is a popular rival to Spotify.