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Spotify To Grab $100 Million Additional Financing As Valuation Drops $1 Billion

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(UPDATED) Spotify has been working on a new round of financing for months, but new reports point to the company finally ready to close on $100 million in cash based in a $3 billion valuation. Earlier reports had Spotify seeking funds based on a $4 billion value.


Goldman Sachs is reportedly leading the new round, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Russian  Global has invested $100 million in Spotify in 2011 based on a $1 billion valuation. The drop in valuation from $4 billion to $3 billion is partly fallout from recent rocky tech IPOs including Facebook, Zynga and GroupOn, but its also because investors now know how expensive it is for streaming content services to scale.

Spotify is growing steadily, with more than 15 million active users in 15 countries, 20% of whom are paying subscribers. Like all music streaming services, however, Spotify is dogged by profitability concerns.  More users means higher payments to rights-holders.

Last year, Spotify's net loss widened to $56 million. The company has said that revenue will rise to $900 million this year, but has not revealed expected losses.

Spotify is expected to expand in Latin America and Eastern Europe in the coming months.

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