Deezer is reportedly looking to raise enough funds to be valued at about €1 billion ($1.1 billion). Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that the French streaming platform could raise capital from a private placement or an IPO. The company’s reps have not made any comment on the news.
Valuations are soaring for the largest streaming companies. After a round of fundraising this spring, Spotify was reportedly valued at more than $8-billion. On the New York stock exchange, publicly-traded Pandora trades with a market capitalization of $4-billion.
Deezer’s global operation serves 16-million monthly listeners, 6-million of whom pay a monthly subscription for music downloading and other interactive features. Spotify has a monthly audience of 75-million, 20-million of whom subscribe, and operates at full throttle in the U.S. Deezer’s U.S. presence is limited to partnerships with consumer electronics companies, the most promiinent of which is the Deezer Elite service which streams through Sonos speakers.