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Swedish Soundcloud set to expand with new American investment

Published: 4 Jan 12 16:11 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/38340/20120104/

The Swedish online audio platform Soundcloud announced on Wednesday that they are teaming up with American investment company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers to further expand their lucrative business.

Soundcloud was founded in Stockholm in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss to simplify the process of sharing music. After the launch in late 2008, it didn't take long for the entrepreneurs to reach five million subscribers of their service.

Now, with the massive capital injection of up to 340 million kronor ($50 million) provided by KPCB, the company is hoping to expand even more rapidly.

"SoundCloud has seen exponential growth this year in terms of users and greatly evolved our product offerings," Ljung said in a statement.

"With Kleiner Perkins' impeccable track record for recognizing and investing in companies with a long-term view, and their understanding and support for the potential of sound, we couldn't be more excited about working together."

Online media consumers have long been familiar with YouTube and Vimeo for sharing videos, and a plethora of sites for sharing photos, such as Flickr, Tumblr, and Photobucket, but Ljung and Wahlforss saw the need for an equally handy tool for music.

“We both came from backgrounds connected with music, and it was just really, really annoying for us to collaborate with people on music," Ljung said in a 2009 interview with Wired magazine.

"I mean simple collaboration, just sending tracks to other people in a private setting, getting some feedback from them, and having a conversation about that piece of music."

Aside from this new cooperation, KPCB also works with a number of other big names on the web such as Groupon, Twitter and Swedish music streaming giant Spotify.

External link: Soundcloud homepage »

Joel Linde (news@thelocal.se)

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13:34 January 5, 2012 by Bigd
another great swedish tech-biz doing well! :)
13:51 January 7, 2012 by shahislam
If the foolish heads of the 3rd world only could understand how smart and non-violently intelligent is Mr. Barack Obama -who is doing a geatest of all time US mission for US and Global prosperity at the expense of his personal time. He could just write books and make approximately 'Ten times more money' than what he is earning as President of USA. He and some wise of the present are just doing a favor to the Global Public for no personal or monetary gains.

It's a different kind of War, very honestly handled by a couple of smartest politicians on present Earth. Just support honesty and the truth.

Now, oil price may get cheaper to benefit hard-working folks not Billionaires.

Please believe in facts and you have nothing to lose by doing it!

Funny! Yes, funny are the most of the human interactions, as long as no human gets killed by another human or a groups of humans.

The too old styled mankind killing politics in the name of God by the advisers of any of the parties of Semitic Origins such as Iranians, Saudi-Arabians, Palestinians, Lebanese, Pakistanis, Afghans etc. will never going to go un-noticed and un-addressed by the New Generation of Collective Global public.

It's time for intelligent, New Kind of US and Global politics without weapons of Wars.

Playing non-violent funny games is Okay as developments for betterment of the mankind -all over the World, is to continue simultaneously.

The changing process will be slow but someone(s) have to start it to be continued for decades and only a few wise heads like Mr. Obama, now understand how the violent reality can become peaceful and of course, by a slowly developing process of digitally identifying and confining the bad guys -a very small percentage of the Global populace including 'a beggar on the global street or a king inside a palace'.

The Cosmos' Creator or religion-less God is blame-free even when killings are committed through non-human, natural creations such as unpredictable Tsunami, new bacterial epidemic etc.

For this reason, still there will be no peace in the lands of today's Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Israel, India, Bangladesh etc.. The non-violent wars of protests will continue from inside e.g. For Saudi-Arabia, its own Public and not Outsider: Israeli Public.

The old style media propaganda won't work anymore as 'the electronic social networks with daily true facts' are becoming replacements. Even attempts to start a "Third World War -will become a matter of idiots' conspiracy" in the eyes of collective 'evolved Global Public'.

Each of us -the wise Westerners, despite our financial hardship, have to get used to enjoying life without luxury for a while and try to have fun in the apparently endless game of living *Life -A truly Cosmic gift of the forever mysterious, cruel (in the human sense of understanding) and *Loving Creator.
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