Slacker, the digital music service that has executives from iRiver, MusicMatch and Rio, has reportedly raised $40 million in Series B funding, which comes on the heels of a Series A round that closed with $14.5 million in funding earlier this year.
The latest round of funding is led by Centennial Ventures and Rho Ventures, and repeated investment from Austin Venture, Mission Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds. Slacker started with a web-based service similar to Pandora, and recently launched a desktop music player which incorporates music from your desktop, and the ability to download songs from your personalized radio stations online. Slacker's most recent announcement introduced us to the wi-fi enabled portable device, which syncs with your online selections. This latest round of funding comes just in time for the anticipated summer release of its device, which will also let you buy tracks for about $1.
Slacker's rivals include iTunes, and Last.fm, which was recently acquired by CBS for $280 million, and has just launched its Facebook app.