Image Credit: Gaana

Tencent Holdings, which already owned a third of Gaana, have increased their investment in the Indian music streaming platform.

Indian Spotify rival Gaana has gained further investment from Tencent. The music and podcast app is one of India’s biggest music streaming platforms.

Chinese music giant Tencent already owned a third of Gaana, and the latest round of debt funding sees it invest another $40 million through its European subsidiary Tencent Cloud Europe.

Entrackr stated that regulatory filings show Gaana’s board has issued 47,050 Series C OCDs at an issue price of Rs 62,397.53 each share to raise Rs 298.58 crore – or $40 million. And more money is likely to be invested at a later date.

Gaana is one of India’s quickest-rising music streaming platforms. Last February Gaana, owned by Times Internet, reached 152 million active users – by September 2020, that figure had risen to 185 million. It subsequently had a target of March 2021 in its sights to hit 250 million monthly active users.

Tencent has backed Gaana since its first minority stake in the streaming platform in February 2018. In its last debt round Gaana raised $50 million from Times Internet and Tencent – Tencent’s stake was 34.44% and Times Internet’s was 60.18%.

Gaana is currently valued at between $570–$580 million. In India, JioSaavn is Gaana’s main streaming competitor, with 253 million downloads to Gaana’s 227 million.

Tencent’s reinvestment in Gaana comes as India’s first music chart tracking streams of international music launches. Music streaming in India has continued to boom in popularity since Spotify and YouTube Music arrived in 2019.