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SoundCloud Secures Significant Investment Led by The Raine Group and TemasekNEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SoundCloud, the world's largest music and audio platform, announced today it has reached an agreement on a significant investment from global merchant bank The Raine Group and Singapore-headquartered investment company Temasek. In connection with the investment, veteran digital media operators Kerry Trainor and Michael Weissman will join the SoundCloud team respectively as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating 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—musicians, DJs, producers, labels, managers and podcasters—that fuel SoundCloud's one-of-a-kind, creator-driven listener experience. The investment and leadership plan was developed in close partnership with SoundCloud founders Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, who will both remain with the company—Ljung as Chairman of the Board and Wahlforss as Chief Product Officer. In addition to the role of Chief Executive Officer, Trainor will also join SoundCloud's Board of Directors. Trainor has 20 years of experience building and leading music and video streaming products, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of Vimeo where he led the creator-driven video platform through its largest expansion in usage, revenue and shareholder value. Michael Weissman, who worked closely with Trainor at Vimeo, will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer at SoundCloud. Alexander Ljung, founder and Chairman of the Board, SoundCloud, said, "Now in its 10th year, I'm proud to say SoundCloud stands as an indispensable part of global music culture. 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. With Kerry's love of music and sharp business acumen, I know SoundCloud is positioned for continued success for many years to come." "As a huge fan of the SoundCloud platform since its founding, I deeply admire what Alex and Eric have built," said Chief Executive Officer at SoundCloud, Kerry 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 abou our plan and path forward in the months ahead." The Raine Group has a long history of partnering with successful creative media and entertainment companies and creator-driven platforms to help advance their growth. Past Raine investments include Vice Media, Imagine Entertainment, Matt Stone and Trey Parker's Important Studios, fantasy sports operator Draft Kings and C3 Presents, owner and operator of music festivals Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. Fred Davis, who has a long history working with artists and digital content platforms, first as a music industry attorney and now as a partner at Raine, will join the SoundCloud board. Joe Puthenveetil, a Vice President at Raine who helps lead Raine's initiatives in the music space, will also join the SoundCloud board. "SoundCloud is a unique and essential music platform for new and developing artists," said Fred Davis, Partner at Raine. "For ten years, SoundCloud has been the birthplace of genre-breaking musical movements in Electronica and Hip Hop. We are excited to partner with Temasek on this investment and are confident our involvement can ensure it remains the most artist-friendly music creation and streaming platform in the world." SoundCloud continues to grow rapidly with creator subscriptions, uploads, total catalog, listening time and listener subscriptions up double-digit percentages, and at all-time highs.* Its total revenue has more than doubled, to a more than $100 million annual run-rate this year. To date, SoundCloud is the #3 music app on iOS, #5 on Android, and a top 40 app globally on both platforms. Since launching in 2007, the platform has become the home for what's new, now and next in music, with more than 160 million tracks now available--this includes music, podcasts and other forms of creative audio content heard each month. *Internal SoundCloud data; Jul'16-Jul'17 About SoundCloud About The Raine Group About Temasek
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