Saavn, a India-based music streaming service backed by media groups Bertelsmann and Liberty Media, agreed to a merger with JioMusic, the digital music subsidiary of conglomerate Reliance Industries, on Friday.
Reliance will invest up to $100m in Saavn as part of the agreement, providing $20m upfront to support international growth and expansion efforts for the merged platform, which is valued at more than $1bn in the deal, with Saavn valued at approximately $330m.
The corporate will also purchase a total of $104m worth of stock from existing shareholders including Liberty, Bertelsmann and hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management, which will all maintain a stake in Saavn.
Founded in 2007, Saavn operates a music streaming service that focuses on Bollywood, regional Indian and English language music. The platform has 30 million songs, according to its website, and also offers exclusive albums and original audio shows.
JioMusic boasts 16 million songs across 20 different languages and primarily targets the Indian market. The merger will drive development of cross-border original content as well as a marketplace run by Saavn that partners independent musicians to produce, distribute and license music.
Saavn’s co-founders, Rishi Malhotra, Paramdeep Singh and Vinodh Bhat, will lead the new entity.
Saavn previously secured an undisclosed sum from record executive and music manager Guy Oseary in 2016, after existing backers Liberty Media and Bertelsmann’s Bertelsmann India Investments unit, had contributed to a $100m funding round in 2015.
The 2015 round was led by Tiger Global and included Steadview Capital, Quilvest, Mousse Partners and unnamed Hong Kong-based hedge funds and individual investors.
Steadview Capital had previously participated in a round of undisclosed size for Saavn in 2014, adding to the $6m it raused in 2009 from undisclosed backers.