The owner of UK budget retail chain Poundworld looks set to become Daniel Ek‘s new best friend.
TPG Capital, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms, is reportedly mulling an investment in Spotify worth ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’.
TPG owns interests including acrobatics company Cirque Du Soleil, Italian restaurant brand Prezzo and US mortgage company Kensington.
Last year, it acquired a majority shareholding in Poundworld for £150 million ($208m).
According to Sky News, TPG is now mulling a nine-figure investment in Spotify, which could see it pump as much as $500m into the Swedish streaming company through convertible loan notes.
The news comes a month after Daniel Ek began looking to raise half a billion in new investment through such notes, with major perks for backers including a guaranteed 4% interest and a further 17.5% discount should Spotify float on the stock exchange within 12 months.
According to Sky’s sources, Ek’s funding drive may now have increased off the back of TPG’s interests.
It reports that Spotify may increase the overall size of its new convertible loan offering to a whopping $1bn.
Spotify has already raised over $1bn since being founded in 2008 – but is yet to turn an annual profit.
TPG is understood to own more than $70bn in assets around the world.
SPOTIFY: INVESTMENT ROUNDS TO DATE
- June 2015: $526m – Goldman Sachs, TCV, GSV Capital, Rinkelberg Capital, Teliasonera & more
- November 2013: $250m – Technology Crossover Ventures
- November 2012*: $100m – AFSquare, The Coca-Cola Company, Fidelity Ventures, Lakestar, Goldman Sachs
- June 2011: $100m – DST Global, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Accel Partners
- February 2010: $12.3m – Founders Fund, Sean Parker
- August 2009: $50m – Li Ka-shing, Horizons Ventures, Wellingtons Partners
- October 2008: $21.6m – Li Ka-shing, Creandum, Northzone, Horizons Ventures
* An additional funding round is believed to have taken place in 2012 for an undisclosed amount.Music Business Worldwide
