SoundCloud has secured new investment from merchant bank The Raine Group and investment firm Temasek, with former Vimeo boss Kerry Trainor taking over as CEO as part of the deal.
SoundCloud’s existing CEO, co-founder Alexander Ljung, will be staying at the company as chairman of the board. Trainor is bringing his former Vimeo colleague Michael Weissman with him to take a role as SoundCloud’s chief operating officer, while Ljung’s co-founder Eric Wahlforss is staying on as chief product officer.
“The investment will ensure a strong, independent future for SoundCloud, funding deeper development and marketing of its core tools used by millions of audio creators,” said the company in a statement published this afternoon.
Trainor is joining SoundCloud’s board of directors, as is Raine Group partner Fred Davis, whose legal career has seen him work for clients including Spotify, YouTube, Last.fm and Rhapsody. Davis is also the son of music-industry veteran Clive Davis.
Details of the investment’s terms have not been announced, although yesterday reports suggested that the $169.5m of new funding valued SoundCloud at just $150m.
“I look forward to fully dedicating my time to leading the board and helping drive SoundCloud’s long term strategic vision, and forging strategic partnerships and connections with industry partners and our one-of-a-kind creative community,” said Ljung in a statement this afternoon.
“As a huge fan of the SoundCloud platform since its founding, I deeply admire what Alex and Eric have built,” said Trainor.
“There is only one SoundCloud and its importance to creators and music culture is undeniable. I’m very excited to join this talented team and build the next chapter of growth around SoundCloud’s mission to empower audio creators. I look forward to sharing more about our plan and path forward in the months ahead.”
The announcement also included some new figures: SoundCloud says its total revenue has “more than doubled, to a more-than $100m annual run-rate this year”, while its catalogue has now increased to more than 160m tracks.
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