India-focused streaming music service Saavn is reportedly close to agreeing a new funding round of between $30m and $40m, led by Hong Kong hedge fund Steadview Capital. That’s according to Indian news site The Economic Times, anyway, which seemingly had its report confirmed by Saavn’s official quote: “We’re not able to comment on the investment just yet.” The funding for the company, which focuses on India and also the Indian diaspora around the world, will help it compete in an increasingly-crowded market, with Gaana, Hungama and the now-Rdio-owned Dhingana all active. Last time we heard from Saavn, it was claiming 10m users (Bulletin, 22-Oct-13), although more recently, local analyst and tech blogger Himanshu Gupta suggested that aggressive growth in the number of ads in Saavn’s app suggested it “doesn’t have a lot of VC money remaining” (Bulletin, 20-Jun-14). A new round would solve that problem, at least for a while.
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