New Valuations for Duolingo and Spotify

More eye popping news out of the startup world focused on digital products & services. One is now valued at $8.2 billion with a 'B'. That is real money folks.

First up is the language learning app 'Duolingo' that I've used quite a bit to help with my French.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/10/duolingo-raises-45-million-series-d-round-led-by-google-ventures-now-valued-at-470m/#.sybdmf:xJRy

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Duolingo, the free language learning service co-founded by reCAPTCHA inventor Luis von Ahn, today announced that it has raised a $45 million investment round led by Google Capital. The company’s previous investors, which include the likes of Union Square Ventures, NEA and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as Ashton Kutcher and Tim Ferris, also participated in this round. This round brings Duolingo’s total funding to date to $83.3 million and the company says its valuation is now around $470 million.

Next is the music streaming service Spotify that is worth watching closely as streaming has passed physical media and is fast approach digital downloads in the music arena.  Wow.  We've come a long ways since Napster.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102747559

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Spotify has snapped up $115 million in investment from Swedish telecom operator TeliaSonera, valuing the company at around $8.2 billion, as it looks to fight off competition from Apple.

TeliaSonera will take a 1.4 percent stake in the music streaming platform and both companies will be "committing resources, staff and other assets" to areas including data analytics and advertising, the telecoms firm said on Wednesday.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant