SoundCloud, the Berlin-based start-up that allows users to upload, share, and embed audio streams, has raised a further $50 million in a financing round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, raising the company’s valuation to around $200 million.
SoundCloud was originally developed as a way to help musicians collaborate on and share music, but has since pivoted into becoming effectively a “YouTube for audio”. It has been adopted by the music blogging community as the go-to place to find streams of songs which can then be embedded within an article (it is used as such by our sister site The Blue Walrus [SoundCloud]). It has made dealing with audio on the internet much easier, with bloggers no longer needing to maintain a file host, and also promotes sharing.
More recently, other audio users have been embracing SoundCloud with the service now hosting a variety of podcasts, comedy, and audiobooks. Digital journalists have also been making use of the service for recording and sharing audio from the ground – something made a lot easier since the release of the SoundCloud iPhone and Android apps.