Music Streaming Service Deezer Raises $185 Million

By Janko Rottgers

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Paris-headquartered music streaming service Deezer has raised another €160 million (around $185 million) in funding, the company announced Thursday morning. This new round of funding values the company at €1 billion ($1.16 billion).

Investors participating in this round included Kingdom Holding Company and Rotana, led by Chairman HRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, Access Industries, Orange and LBO France.

also announced a partnership with the Rotana Group, a Dubai-based media company. Under the agreement, Deezer will distribute Rotana’s content across the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

“Rotana is the world’s premier provider of award-winning Arabic music,” said Rotana Audio CEO Salem Al Hindi in a statement. “We are now expanding our reach and distribution by partnering with Deezer, a leading global digital music streaming service, to deliver our high-quality music content to an ever-growing global listenership in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions around the world.”

“The new funding enables us both to accelerate our expansion in fast growing international music markets and strengthen our positions in key territories,” added Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht. “The exclusive long-term distribution agreement also provides us with a unique opportunity to build future market leader positions in exciting markets.”

Although lesser-known to consumers in the U.S., Deezer has long been a significant competitor to Spotify in Europe. The company claims to have 14 million monthly active users, and boasts a catalog of 53 million tracks.

Including this new round, Deezer has raised some $531 million total to date, according to Crunchbase.