TeliaSonera said it has made an equity investment into Spotify of USD 115 million and that it has extended its cooperation with the music streaming company after working together five years.
Under the new strategic partnership, TeliaSonera paid USD 115 million for a 1.4 percent stake. Both companies are also committing resources, staff and other assets to ignite their joint innovation agenda within areas such as media distribution, customer insights, data analytics and advertising. A joint TeliaSonera-Spotify team will be set up to run the projects.
Spotify recently raised USD 526 million during its latest funding round, the Wall Street Journal reported. The round values the company at USD 8.53 billion, sources said. Spotify wants to invest in expansion and new forms of content as it faces a growing set of challengers.
Investors in Spotify’s new round include Baillie Gifford, Landsdowne Partners, Rinkelberg Capital, Senvest Capital and Discovery Capital Management, the person familiar with the matter said. US investors in the round include Halcyon Asset Management, GSV Capital, D.E. Shaw & Co, Technology Crossover Ventures, Northzone and P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, the person said. Goldman Sachs, which Spotify hired to raise the new funding, also invested through its Global Private Opportunity Partners fund. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign-wealth fund also agreed to invest in the round
