Not everyone can be Spotify, but the ‘German Spotify’ has been playing a localized card.
And now, the plan is to expand.
Germans know it as Simfy (simfy.de), and investors just plowed an additional 10 million euros ($14.2 million) into the idea, according to TechCrunch Europe. The Cologne-based Simfy has been around since 2006, and the core concept is on-demand, anywhere streaming (sound familiar?) The recent round brings the total investment to $18 million euros ($25.6 million), with investors Earlybird, NRW Bank, Dumont Ventures and Klaus Wecken playing in both rounds.
This isn’t Elevation Partners and a billion-dollar valuation, though Simfy has a growing presence across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. According to Simfy CEO Gerrit Schumann, the latest round will be used to consolidate that presence while also expanding into other European countries.
But part of that process involves licensing negotiations, often of the laborious and expensive kind. And for those wanting access in places like the US, forget it – the conversation ends when you try to press play (sound familiar?)