Deezer is a hot topic for the moment – and not just because President Sarkozy released his Deezer music playlist. Turns out music streaming platform is looking for a little love money. €100 million, to be exact.
Spotify, is that you?
The news broke on Les Echos earlier today that Orange – which acquired 11% of the company last year – would not be reinvesting. But not to worry, the company is rumored to be in discussion with potential American investors that want to help fund its international development.
Hey wait a minute, isn’t this almost the exact same amount that Spotify raised prior to its US launch? I guess we know where things are headed. Although, my guess is Yuri Milner – who participated in Spotify’s $100 million round – may be sitting this one out. :p
Apples and Oranges.
It isn’t clear as to why Orange won’t be reinvesting in the French iTunes and Spotify competitor – especially if there is interest from US-based funds. Since Orange became a shareholder, Deezer’s paid subscriptions have apparently jumped from 25,000 to 1.5 million – though Spotify is still in the lead, having passed 2.5 million paying users in November 2011. And the company that initially began as BlogMusik back in 2006 also became profitable.
In addition to the number of paying users, the other metric that is being pushed forward is the number of new users that Deezer has acquired through its partnership with Facebook: 10,000 to be exact. That number is ever so slightly less than the number Spotify acquired by integrating the same Facebook functionality.
Finally winning the uphill battle.
Deezer’s team is said to want to close the round sometime between now and summer. I guess that means more or less the same timeframe as Spotify, only 1 year later.
That said, I am pleased to see that Deezer is continuing its growth and that it’s striving to double its 100-person team within the next year. The company has faced a lot of uphill battles in its existence. In Deezer’s early days, its young founders, Daniel Marhely and Jonathan Benassaya, were forced to close shop. After several months, the site was reborn and grew to over 20 million by November 2011.
It’ll be interesting to see where Deezer goes from here. Regardless, I wish the team and relatively new CEO Axel Dauchez the best of luck in finding the funding they need to expand.