Swedish Soundcloud set to expand with new American investment
The Swedish online audio platform Soundcloud announced on Wednesday that they are teaming up with American investment company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers to further expand their lucrative business.
Soundcloud was founded in Stockholm in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss to simplify the process of sharing music. After the launch in late 2008, it didn't take long for the entrepreneurs to reach five million subscribers of their service.
Now, with the massive capital injection of up to 340 million kronor ($50 million) provided by KPCB, the company is hoping to expand even more rapidly.
"SoundCloud has seen exponential growth this year in terms of users and greatly evolved our product offerings," Ljung said in a statement.
"With Kleiner Perkins' impeccable track record for recognizing and investing in companies with a long-term view, and their understanding and support for the potential of sound, we couldn't be more excited about working together."
Online media consumers have long been familiar with YouTube and Vimeo for sharing videos, and a plethora of sites for sharing photos, such as Flickr, Tumblr, and Photobucket, but Ljung and Wahlforss saw the need for an equally handy tool for music.
“We both came from backgrounds connected with music, and it was just really, really annoying for us to collaborate with people on music," Ljung said in a 2009 interview with Wired magazine.
"I mean simple collaboration, just sending tracks to other people in a private setting, getting some feedback from them, and having a conversation about that piece of music."
Aside from this new cooperation, KPCB also works with a number of other big names on the web such as Groupon, Twitter and Swedish music streaming giant Spotify.
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Soundcloud was founded in Stockholm in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss to simplify the process of sharing music. After the launch in late 2008, it didn't take long for the entrepreneurs to reach five million subscribers of their service.
Now, with the massive capital injection of up to 340 million kronor ($50 million) provided by KPCB, the company is hoping to expand even more rapidly.
"SoundCloud has seen exponential growth this year in terms of users and greatly evolved our product offerings," Ljung said in a statement.
"With Kleiner Perkins' impeccable track record for recognizing and investing in companies with a long-term view, and their understanding and support for the potential of sound, we couldn't be more excited about working together."
Online media consumers have long been familiar with YouTube and Vimeo for sharing videos, and a plethora of sites for sharing photos, such as Flickr, Tumblr, and Photobucket, but Ljung and Wahlforss saw the need for an equally handy tool for music.
“We both came from backgrounds connected with music, and it was just really, really annoying for us to collaborate with people on music," Ljung said in a 2009 interview with Wired magazine.
"I mean simple collaboration, just sending tracks to other people in a private setting, getting some feedback from them, and having a conversation about that piece of music."
Aside from this new cooperation, KPCB also works with a number of other big names on the web such as Groupon, Twitter and Swedish music streaming giant Spotify.
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