Deezer plans for IPO as music-streaming competition heats up
Deezer is the latest music-streaming company to seek further investment to survive in what remains a hyper-competitive marketplace
Daniel Marhely was just 23 years old when he set up music-streaming service, Deezer, which has its biggest following in France - where it is to be listed as an IPO
Music-streaming service Deezer has announced plans to list on the Paris stock exchange by year’s end in order to keep pace with new and old competitors. Active in over 180 countries and with six million paying subscribers to its name, Deezer plans for an IPO should hand the service some added marketing clout as it looks to establish a bigger name for itself in the music-streaming market.
Founded by 23-year-old Daniel Marhely from his Paris bedroom in 2007, most of Deezer’s customers are based in France
The move follows a major funding round earlier this year by Spotify, which yielded $500m and underlined the company’s hard-earned market leadership. The Stockholm-based company boasts over 20 million subscribers and 75 million active users, and fresh competition from Apple Music and Tidal has done little so far to shrink its user base.
Founded by (then) 23-year-old Daniel Marhely from his Paris bedroom in 2007, most of Deezer’s customers are based in France – which, according to chief executive Hans-Holger Albrecht, is the reason why the company will list in Paris. The company received €100m in funding in 2012 from Access Industries and Idinvest, although the IPO “gives us more flexibility going forward and more access to financial markets,” according to Albrecht, speaking in an interview with the FT.
The introduction of both Apple and Google to the music streaming business means that companies without the financial muscle of major technology giants must look elsewhere for financing. The task of securing investment is made to seem all the more important given that music streaming has not yet shown itself to be a particularly profitable endeavour. Again according to Albrecht, the company’s annual revenue will surpass the €750m mark by 2018, and in doing so break even on a monthly basis.
