42244 2 3 econsultancy_xml <p> <a href="/blog/1270-cbs-buys-london-based-last-fm-for-280m">Last.fm, acquired by CBS for $280m recently</a>, managed to grow its business on a fraction of the $50m raised by Slacker - around £2.5m in VC funding - so why does Slacker need so much? </p> <p>Well, the answer seems to be that <a href="http://www.slacker.com/">Slacker</a>, as well as creating a social music recommendation service and desktop application a la <a href="http://www.last.fm/">Last.fm</a> and <a href="http://www.pandora.com/">Pandora</a>, the company also plans a <a href="/blog/920-slacker-launches-web-radio-service">portable music player</a> and needs the cash for product development. </p> <p>The portable player will allow users to listen to their Slacker radio on the move, and communicates with Slacker's servers to keep playlists up to date. </p> <p>Is challenging Apple / Creative / Sony a wise move? Wouldn't it make more sense to create a downloadable app for mobile handsets?</p> <p>This feels like a dangerous move from Slacker, or at least one that will surely haemorrhage lots of cash in the research / product development phase, not to mention the millions they'll need to spend to market the device.</p> <p>Maybe there's no money in internet radio?</p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Link URL="/blog/1270-cbs-buys-london-based-last-fm-for-280m" Window="New">Last.fm, acquired by CBS for $280m recently</Link>, managed to grow its business on a fraction of the $50m raised by Slacker - around £2.5m in VC funding - so why does Slacker need so much? </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Well, the answer seems to be that <Link URL="http://www.slacker.com/" Window="New">Slacker</Link>, as well as creating a social music recommendation service and desktop application a la <Link URL="http://www.last.fm/" Window="New">Last.fm</Link> and <Link URL="http://www.pandora.com/" Window="New">Pandora</Link>, the company also plans a <Link URL="/blog/920-slacker-launches-web-radio-service" Window="New">portable music player</Link> and needs the cash for product development. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>The portable player will allow users to listen to their Slacker radio on the move, and communicates with Slacker's servers to keep playlists up to date. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Is challenging Apple / Creative / Sony a wise move? Wouldn't it make more sense to create a downloadable app for mobile handsets?</Paragraph> <Paragraph>This feels like a dangerous move from Slacker, or at least one that will surely haemorrhage lots of cash in the research / product development phase, not to mention the millions they'll need to spend to market the device.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Maybe there's no money in internet radio?</Paragraph> </FormattedContent> 2007-06-04T11:43:00+01:00 0 1 econsultancy_xml <p> <strong>Slacker, a recently launched web radio service, has raised $40m (£20m) in a second round of funding, to add to the $14.5m (£7.3m) raised in a Series A round of funding earlier this year. </strong> </p> <p>According to <a href="http://www.pehub.com/wordpress/?p=1059">peHUB</a>, Centennial Ventures and Rho Ventures were new investors, while Austin Ventures, Mission Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds, which had participated in the first round, invested again. </p> <p>And it turns out that Slacker has some serious non-web ambitions...</p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Slacker, a recently launched web radio service, has raised $40m (£20m) in a second round of funding, to add to the $14.5m (£7.3m) raised in a Series A round of funding earlier this year. </Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>According to <Link URL="http://www.pehub.com/wordpress/?p=1059" Window="New">peHUB</Link>, Centennial Ventures and Rho Ventures were new investors, while Austin Ventures, Mission Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds, which had participated in the first round, invested again. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>And it turns out that Slacker has some serious non-web ambitions...</Paragraph> </FormattedContent> false 1297 363472 Web radio firm Slacker raises $40m in funding false 2007-06-04T15:37:00+01:00 web-radio-firm-slacker-raises-40m-in-funding 2009-04-28T22:50:45+01:00 2009-04-28T22:50:45+01:00 432