Hot on the heels of Deezer’s announcement that it has raised $109 million in new funding, Spotify announced that it has acquired two startups: Cord Project and Soundwave. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and we don’t know what Spotify intends to do with them, but it’ll most likely use them to boost its messaging and social features. Cord Project, a Brooklyn-based startup, allows users to send and receive voice messages to each other, while Soundwave, a Dublin-based startup, uses group messaging and playlists to create a place where users can discuss music with each other.
On the same day that streaming rival Deezer announced a new cash injection of €100 million, Spotify has confirmed two new acquisitions, Cord Project and Soundwave. The startups are based respectively in New York and Dublin and focus on social and messaging. The acquisitions point to Spotify possibly ramping up its social features — specifically in areas like messaging. But that will not include voice messaging, which is one of the pieces of technology that Cord Project built. “We are excited about the talent the Cord team brings to Spotify especially as it relates to design and audio experiences,” Spotify said. “This acquisition is not specifically about voice messaging and there are no plans to enter that space.” The terms of the deals are not being disclosed but are likely to be on the modest side. Soundwave was backed by the likes of Mark Cuban and had raised less than $3 million; Cord Project, co-founded by ex-Googlers, raised under $2 million with backers including Lerer Hippeau and Metamorphic. Spotify is not commenting on how it plans to use the technology and talent that it is picking up today, except to note in a short statement that it’s to boost its product and engineering capabilities.
