Is the world of podcasting and audiobooks destined to be dominated by the biggest players like Spotify, Apple and Amazon? Danish startup Podimo hopes not, and it’s just raised €58.6m more funding ($58.5m) to prove it.
In fact, Podimo has been notably successful at raising money to build its business: it started with €15m in 2020, followed by rounds of €11.2m and $78m in 2021.
The latest round was led by investment firms 83North, Highland Europe and Saban Ventures, and will help Podimo to continue expanding its podcasts and audiobooks service. So far it has launched in six European countries (Denmark, Germany, Spain, Norway, The Netherlands and Finland) as well as in Latin America.
Much has been made of Podimo’s Spotify links: former exec Eva Lægdsgaard was one of its co-founders, and the company hired ex Spotify VP of content Sachin Doshi earlier this year too.
The rhetoric around Podimo ramps up the idea of competing with Spotify: “We strongly believe in Podimo becoming the global market leader in spoken-word audio,” said 83North partner Amon Dinur in this week’s announcement.
However, as competition among the spoken-word giants intensifies, that kind of talk seems just as likely (and sensibly) to be aimed at putting Podimo at the front of their minds when they are mulling potential acquisitions.
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