Spotify closes $250 million in funding, valued at over $4 billion

Spotify, a Swedish music streaming service, has closed $250 million in funding and is being valued at over $4 billion. Pandora, the largest player in the streaming music market, is currently valued at more than $5 billion.

Streaming music service Spotify has just closed $250 million in funding, reports The Wall Street Journal. The massive late-stage round was led by Technology Crossover Ventures, and values the Swedish company at over $4 billion. Spotify’s betting on continued growth globally to finally help it achieve profitability, and with its new money, could potentially expand to more countries and roll out new features to compete with an encroaching Google Play Music behemoth. It may also be banking on the fact that, as with Twitter, an IPO could occur without profit, based just on the strength of its revenue growth. “If we think that the goal is better aligned by going public, sure we’ll contemplate it,” said CEO Daniel Ek in August of this year, reports the Journal, “But it’s not something I spend any waking time thinking about.”