SoundCloud Struggling To Raise Money, May Look For Sale

Audio streaming service SoundCloud is struggling to raise additional money and has actively looked to be acquired by another company, according to a report from Recode.

As Recode notes, SoundCloud has sought to raise around $100 million since last year but hasn't been able to hit its funding goals. As a result, the streaming service is now far more open to selling itself cheap to another company. In January 2014, the company had a valuation of more than $700 million, but Recode said SoundCloud could look for bids of at least $250 million, which is the amount of money the streaming service has raised via investment so far.

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The report highlights SoundCloud's continuing struggles as it looks to maintain market share against bigger competitors in the music streaming space. SoundCloud, which posted a loss of $52 million in 2015, hinted at the possibility of larger financial issues in a filing earlier this year.

“The occurrence of [financial] risks can seriously affect the ability of the group to generate sufficient cash to cover the planned expenditures and could require the Group to raise additional funds which have not yet been agreed.” SoundCloud CEO Alexander Ljung said.

“Whilst the directors believe that the Group will have sufficient funds to continue to meet its liabilities through 31 December 2017, the risks and uncertainties may cause the company to run out of cash earlier than that date, and would require the Group to raise additional funds which are not currently planned. These matters give rise to a material uncertainty about the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

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SoundCloud's premium streaming service SoundCloud Go provided a modest boost to the company's ledgers, but against competition from market leaders like Spotify and Apple Music, it hasn't been able to significantly turn around the company's fortunes.

For smaller companies in the streaming space, acquisitions have already begun, as Sprint purchased a non-majority share of Tidal in January. SoundCloud has been tied to a list of rumored suitors that include Spotify, Google and Twitter in the past, but with the company's unclear financial prospects, the possibility of a change in ownership only looks to increase for the streaming service.