SOUNDCLOUD MUSIC SITE FOR UPLOADING MUSIC VALUED AT $700 MILLION

SoundCloud, the site for uploading and sharing music, has raised a new round of funding valuing the company at about $700 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The Berlin-based startup received more than $60 million from Institutional Venture Partners and the Chernin Group, said the person. The round closed late last year but hasn’t been announced or reported. Previous investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, Index Ventures and Union Square Ventures, also participated.

SoundCloud, unlike competing music services Spotify and Rdio, lets amateur musicians upload their own songs and remixes of popular artists. New users get two free hours of uploads, and pay monthly or annual subscriptions of up to $135 a year for unlimited uploads as well as analytics tools for promoting tracks to users on the site. Users upload about 12 hours of audio every minute, according to the company.

In addition to the YouTube-like community of aspiring artists on the site, professional musicians including Nine Inch Nails and Beyonce, as well as media brands like Comedy Central have used the site to debut exclusive content.

Founded by Swedish entrepreneurs Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss in 2007, SoundCloud has expanded to five offices around the world, including London, New York, San Francisco and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Another European music startup, Spotify, was valued at more than $4 billion in a round a November financing.

IVP, which backs companies with established user bases or business models, also recently invested in Snapchat, Supercell, TuneIn and DropCam.