Deezer, a European music streamer is going public via a SPAC deal, valuing the Spotify competitor at $1.1 billion.
Deezer founded in 2007, previously tried to IPO in 2015, only to reverse course and raise Series E and Series F rounds in 2016 and 2018.
Since then, highly resourced streamers like Spotify, Amazon and Apple have only continued to grow, renewing market interest in music. But Deezer has also struggled to compete with these behemoths. As at March 2021, Deezer only held 2% of the global streaming music subscription market, though it’s more popular abroad than in the U.S. In France and Brazil, the company holds 29% and 17% of the market share respectively.
Wall Street Journal said, Deezer isn’t making money yet, but per this deal, it hopes to be profitable by 2025. Deezer currently has 9.6 million subscribers, offers 90 million streaming songs plus podcasts and audiobooks, and generated €400 million in revenue last year.