SoundCloud Gets New Investment Round, Lives to Stream Another Day
Credit to Author: Samantha Cole| Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2017 16:03:37 +0000
Audio-streaming service Soundcloud will live on to deliver some of the weirdest tracks of the web, after investors accepted a proposal Friday that will pay off its debts and allow it to stay in business.
On SoundCloud’s blog, the company announced that it reached a deal that would keep the lights on, with investment from global merchant bank The Raine Group and investment company Temasek.
According to a circular obtained by Axios, shareholders were asked on Tuesday to accept or reject a reorganization proposal by end-of-day Friday. It involves a $169.5 million investment, at a $150 million pre-money enterprise valuation, which closes Friday. This financing would allow Soundcloud to pay off its debts—without it, CEO Alexander Ljung said that the company would not be able “to continue as a going concern.”
As part of this round, investors will replace Ljung, who has acted as CEO of SoundCloud since 2007. The blog post announced that former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor will replace him, and former Vimeo General Manager Mike Weissman will become the company’s COO.
In July, after layoffs and office closures at Soundcloud triggered rumors of financial trouble, preservationists started archiving 900 terabytes of Soundcloud. The company put a swift end to their effort. Ljung wrote a blog post about the rumors in mid-July, saying, “Most importantly, everyone’s music and audio is safe on SoundCloud. SoundCloud is not going away—not in 50 days, not in 80 days or anytime in the foreseeable future.”
Twitter, Spotify and Google have all toyed with the notion of buying SoundCloud in the past, as Fast Company noted in January amid Ljung’s vows for growth, but each potential buyer backed out or didn’t pursue.
Mercifully, this means we’ll be able to keep streaming the quirkiest user-generated tracks on the internet, whether you love Seinwave or amateur mashups.