Music streaming platform Gaana raises $51 mn from Tencent, Times Internet

Gamma Gaana, which runs music and podcast streaming platform Gaana, has raised Rs 375 crore (about $51 million as per current exchange rates) in debt from returning investors Tencent Cloud Europe and Times Internet.

Last month, the Gurugram-based firm received stakeholder approval to take a $5 million loan for “principal business requirements”, as per regulatory filings.

The company has allocated 47,050 Series B unsecured optionally convertible debentures at Rs 63,761.93 to Tencent Cloud Europe, amounting to Rs 299 crore (nearly $41 million). Times Internet has been allocated 11,763 shares worth Rs 75 crore (nearly $10 million), the filings showed.

Tencent Cloud Europe is a cloud compute service unit of Tencent.

The latest fundraise comes over two years after Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings led a $115 million funding round in Gaana, along with Times Internet. Homegrown smartphone maker Micromax has also backed Gaana.

This year, Tencent has invested in startups such as Khatabook, DoubtNut and Pratilipi.

After the ban on popular short video platform TikTok, Gaana in July launched HotShot, its own short video app.

Gaana claims to have 185 million monthly active users and looks to reach 250 million by March 2021. It has a music library of 45 million songs along with 5,000 user-generated podcasts per month in multiple genres and languages. During the Covid-19 lockdown in the country, the company said it recorded a 10-13% surge in consumption of music and podcasts.

In India, Gaana competes with companies such as heavily funded JioSaavn, Bharti Airtel's Wynk and Hungama. Last year, technology company ByteDance also launched a music app called Resso in India and Indonesia.