Spotify valued at $1bn (£618m) after new investment
Spotify has been valued at $1bn (£618m) after a new financing round led by a Russian technology investor who already has shares in Facebook, Groupon and Zynga.
The reported $100m investment, which is likely to include finance from a number of investors and said to be led by Digital Sky Technologies (DST), will be Spotify’s largest funding round to date.
Spotify has raised €83m (£70m) since it launched its online streaming service in 2009 but has yet to make a profit.
It is thought the new investment will help the digital music company move into the North American market and launch new services in order to steal share from Apple’s iTunes.
Spotify has over 10 million users but has attracted less than 1 million paying subscribers to its mobile and online ad-free services.
DST bought a $200m (£125m) stake in Facebook in 2009 which is said to have been increased to around 10%. It also has investment in Twitter, Groupon and Zynga, which makes Facebook games such as FarmVille.
DST’s founder Yuri Milner said in November that the firm was looking to invest in global companies that have more than a $1bn (£618m) valuation and are in the “social internet space”.
