SoundCloud's CEO confirmed he's looking for more funding less than a week after cutting 40% of his workforce

SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung is in the process of raising another round of funding as part of a wider effort to help keep the Berlin-headquartered music streaming service independent. 

TechCrunch editor-at-large Mike Butcher asked Ljung at the Tech Open Air conference in Berlin on Wednesday whether he was trying to raise a $250 million (£194 million) funding round for SoundCloud. 

"We are raising a round of financing at this point," said Ljung. "But that's not as interesting as the music on the platform." 

Last week, SoundCloud cut 173 staff from its 420 strong workforce in a bid to help it become profitable. 

In reference to the job cuts, Ljung said: "These are incredibly talented people who I have no doubt will be able to get new jobs but it's incredibly sad. It's a very, very sad time, especially for them."

The job cuts come after reports suggested that the company, which has been valued at $700 million (£557 million) by investors, could be about to sell at a knockdown price, possibly leaving early shareholders with little to cash in.

SoundCloud — which has raised $198 million (£154 million), including around $70 million (£59 million) from Twitter, according to startup funding tracker Crunchbase — was in talks to sell for $1 billion (£800 million), according to a Bloomberg report last July, with the company being linked to firms like Google and Spotify. But that figure could now be as low as $250 million (£199 million), according to a Recode report in March. 

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Contributer : Tech Insider http://ift.tt/2uewuxb

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