Spotify
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Investors
Founders
About
Spotify is a music and audio streaming platform founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, Sweden 1. The company went public via a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange on April 3, 2018, bypassing a traditional IPO 2.
Funding History
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead Investor(s) | Key Co-Investors | Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | Oct 2008 | $21.6M | Northzone | Creandum, Horizons Ventures, Li Ka-shing, Shakil Khan | — |
| Series B | Feb 2010 | $12.3M+ | Founders Fund | Sean Parker | — |
| Series C | Jun 2011 | $100M | DST Global | Kleiner Perkins, Accel Partners | — |
| Series D | Nov 2012 | $100M | Goldman Sachs | Fidelity, AFSquare, Coca-Cola, Lakestar | — |
| Series E | Nov 2013 | $250M | Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) | — | $4B+ |
| Series F | Jun 2015 | $526M | — | Goldman Sachs, TCV, GSV Capital, Rinkelberg Capital, TeliaSonera | $8.5B |
| Convertible Debt | Mar 2016 | $1B | TPG, Dragoneer | Goldman Sachs clients | — |
| Direct Listing | Apr 2018 | — | — | — | ~$26.5B (opening) |
What Investors Say
No independently sourced investor testimonials found.
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found.
Sources
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Northzone, “Spotify - The Impossible Success Story,” March 15, 2018. https://northzone.com/2018/03/15/spotify-impossible-success-story/↩↩
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Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, “Spotify Case Study: Structuring and Executing a Direct Listing,” July 5, 2018. https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2018/07/05/spotify-case-study-structuring-and-executing-a-direct-listing/↩↩
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Crunchbase, “Series A - Spotify,” accessed March 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/spotify-series-a–9ddc7d13↩
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TechCrunch, “Technology Crossover Ventures Funds All Of Spotify’s $250M International Growth Round,” November 21, 2013. https://techcrunch.com/2013/11/21/technology-crossover-ventures-spotify/↩
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TechCrunch, “Spotify raises $1 billion in debt with devilish terms to fight Apple Music,” March 29, 2016. https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/29/stream-with-the-devil/↩
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Tracxn, “Spotify - 2026 Funding Rounds & List of Investors,” accessed March 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/companies/spotify/__Ca_zlUgx_WLZhdMnrFT5gl0QhuYKmazqhoU9ekDPRkw/funding-and-investors↩
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The VC Corner, “How Creandum Built a $2B VC Fund Backing Spotify and Lovable,” accessed March 2026. https://www.thevccorner.com/p/how-creandum-built-2b-vc-fund-spotify-lovable↩
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Music Business Research, “Spotify’s Long Journey to the Stock Market,” August 12, 2024. https://musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/2024/08/12/spotifys-long-journey-to-the-stock-market/↩