French newspaper Le Figaro is reporting that music streaming service Deezer has raised €100m ($130m) in funding from Access Industries, the company that owns Warner Music Group.
There’s no doubt that the report holds some truth. Deezer has already sent us an invitation to a press conference in London this Wednesday, 10 October where it says it will reveal “A major new funding investment,” although it doesn’t detail the investors.
Deezer was originally founded in France under the name Blogmusik in 2006, and has recently been expanding at a fair clip, after it announced plans launch in 200 countries (interestingly, not including the USA) last year. This has most recently seen it begin an incursion into Asia.
Le Figaro reports that the €100m figure includes €25m spent on buying back shares from existing shareholders. As for what the funds will be spent on, the press conference invitation we’ve received also says that a new product interface and “increasing investment in global scope, local editorial and music discovery” are on the cards. There will also be an insight into the company’s 2012 performance and “Deezer’s vision for revolutionising music worldwide.” As press conference invitations go, it’s hardly Apple-esque in its mystique.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
To date, Deezer’s growth has been fuelled by a total of $19.3m in venture funding over two rounds according to CrunchBase – most recently, a $12.5m Series B in 2009. Existing investors include IDInvest Partners, CM-CIC Capital Prive, Xavier Niel and Dotcorp Asset Management.
The news comes at an interesting time for music streaming services. Spotify is growing fast but struggling to make money due to a huge royalties bill, while we’ve heard word that Rdio is in talks to sell to Microsoft. Whether major new funding can allow Deezer to find a model that works well for consumers, the music industry and itself remains to be seen.
We’ve contacted Deezer’s PR representative for comment, but we’ll no doubt hear a lot more about this on Wednesday, if not before.
Image credit: Magerleagues
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.