Someone call Chance the Rapper—SoundCloud is saved!
We almost lost another great one.
SoundCloud, an online network for sharing and enjoying music, had been crashing. The website was unable to pull in enough money to meet its costs. Last month, the company was forced to lay off 173 employees, which was about 40 percent of its workforce.
The move caused an uproar, online. SoundCloud's future appeared in serious doubt. Chance the Rapper, one of many artists who frequently uses the platform to share his work, tweeted that he was on the case.
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Well, Chance was right.
SoundCloud announced Friday that the company had secured a new round of funding. The amount was not disclosed, but the company did reveal it was its biggest round to date. Participants included The Raine Group and Temasek.
"You’ve told me how, without SoundCloud, there would be a giant gaping void in today’s world of music. We can’t have that, and I’m happy to once again say that won’t be happening," SoundCloud founder Alexander Ljung wrote in the blog post.
As part of the funding, the company is under new leadership. Ljung will no longer be serving as CEO but will remain on as chairman. Kerry Trainor and Mike Weissman, both of whom worked at video-sharing platform Vimeo, are joining as CEO and COO, respectively.
It's TBD on what's next, as in what it means for making money going forward. One of the company's latest efforts is SoundCloud Go, a paid subscription service launched in March 2016. But it seems like they are confident something will work.
"SoundCloud, just like music, will continue to evolve, but importantly, both will always be a key part of life," Ljung wrote.
UPDATE: Aug. 11, 2017, 2:55 p.m. EDT Ljung told Chance by sliding into his DMs on Twitter.
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Topics Music
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
