Just a few weeks after Spotify acquired Boston music intelligence company The Echo Nest, word is out that the six-year-old song streaming service might go public sometime in Q3 of this year.
Quartz reported the European company may start holding formal conversations with investment banks as early as next month in anticipation for an IPO next fall.
Earlier this month, Spotify scooped up MIT-founded The Echo Nest, which holds headquarters in Somerville and an office in San Francisco. The Echo Nest has long since provided its music understanding and curation tools to its new parent company, as well as many other competing music services, such as Rdio.
While no terms of the deal were disclosed at first, TechCrunch later reported that the deal was $100 million, with 90 percent of that in Spotify equity. Reported TechCrunch:
Earlier today, we’d heard from a source that the deal was valued at $125 million. That included $15 million in cash split between three people: the two founders — Brian Whitman and Tristan Jehan — and CEO Jim Lucchese; $20 million set aside for employee cash earn outs over four years for 70 or so employees and $90 million in deferred earn-outs. It was while asking around to confirm these figures that we heard the $100 million number.
Spotify's valuation is still unknown, so it's too early to tell how sweet the deal will be. When Spotify shares begin to trade, however, all shareholders, including entrepreneurs Whitman, Jehan and Lucchese and The Echo Nest employees, will see more money coming their way.
