Pandora Tunes Into $35 Million
Online radio network Pandora has raised $35 million in new VC funding, according to multiple sources familiar with the deal. No word yet on who’s leading the round, or which existing shareholders re-upped. Pandora had previously raised around $29 million, from firms like Crosslink Capital, DBL Investors, Hearst Corp., Labrador Ventures, Selby Venture Partners and WaldenVC. [Update: The company has emailed to say Greylock is leading the round, with partner David Sze joining the Pandora board of directors. Pandora declined to comment on the round's size or valuation] What’s particularly interesting here is that the new financing was signed while Pandora’s very existence was in jeopardy. The company had been operating under a royalty structure that caused it to shell out nearly 70% of its revenue to record labels, and which was expected to increase by nearly 33% next year. Pandora founder Tim Westergren referred to it as a “crisis,” and TechCrunch wrote that the company may need to be “sacrificed before artists and labels to realize just how absurd their position is.”
