The ink has dried on a deal that will save SoundCloud for the immediate future. However, the music streaming service’s co-founder and CEO Alex Ljung will resign from his position so that former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor can take his place.
Rumors that The Raine Group and Temasek Holdings would purchase a dominant share in SoundCloud had surfaced last week, and a statement posted to the latter company’s website confirmed it. According to Axios, the capital raised to keep the platform afloat amounts to $169.5 million.
Ljung will not step away from SoundCloud altogether. He will still remain chairman of the company, and co-founder Eric Wahlforss will also stay onboard as chief product officer.
Musical Chairs
For their part in the agreement, two positions on the board will go to Raine staff members Fred Davis and Joe Puthenveetil. The former Raine partner used to be a music industry attorney, and the latter is the company’s vice president in charge of music investments.
The new Series F round of investment is SoundCloud’s largest to date, and gives Raine and Temasek more liquidation preferences than any previous investors. All Series E investors’ preferences will be reduced by 40%.
SoundCloud has reported its annual run-rate revenue at $100 million, but has not disclosed recent figures for its expenses.
Source: TechCrunch
