Global streaming destination TuneIn has hit 40 million monthly active listeners and closed $16 million in funding. The new round of funding was led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Jafco Ventures, Google Ventures and existing business partner Sequoia Capital.
In the last few months alone, TuneIn has expanded significantly – forming pivotal alliances with major broadcasting companies such as Cox, Emmis, Entercom and CBS Radio Network as well as popular podcasters including Adam Carolla, sports organizations such as the New England Patriots, and live music festivals like Outside Lands driving exponential growth.
CEO John Donham tells RBR-TVBR how they will use the investment and what’s next for TuneIn: “First and foremost, we’ll use this money to enhance on our listener experience. Specifically, we’ll be using it for a couple of different things: to increase our headcount, especially internationally, for product development and for marketing. Right now, we are obsessively focused on bringing our listeners the best experience and programming from anywhere. We’re looking at more live events and continuing to expand our 200 plus distribution platforms, in particular connected car dashboards.”
“As we’ve seen with the television, movie and book markets, the digital radio space is headed into a period of disruptive change,” said Hemat Taneja, Managing Director at General Catalyst Partners. “The open-platform approach demonstrated by TuneIn uniquely positions the company to take advantage of this enormous market opportunity.”
“Internet listeners now represent over 30% of the radio audience,” added Bryan Schreier, General Partner, Sequoia Capital. “TuneIn has distinguished itself as both the premier partner to the industry and the leading service to listeners. They make radio better every day.”
TuneIn is widely accessible on more than 200 devices, and available practically anywhere with an Internet signal, including all major smartphones and tablets, smart TVs and radios, car dashboards and on the web at tunein.com.
Here’s the full list of TuneIn partnerships:
- CBS RADIO
- talkSPORT
- Wall Street Journal Radio Network
- The Wall Street Journal this Morning
- The Daily Wrap with Michael Castner
- The Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing
- The Wall Street Journal Your Money Matters
- TED
- TEDTalks Technology
- TEDTalks News & Politics
- TEDTalks Kids and Family
- TEDTalks Music
- TEDTalks Arts
- Salem Communications Corporation
- Carolla Digital
- The Adam Carolla Show and other popular comedy broadcasts
- Emmis Communications Corporation
- Cox Communications
- Entercom
- Hubbard Broadcasting
- NPR
- Buckley Radio
- WGN Radio
- FOX News Radio – News at the top and bottom of every hour, including the following syndicated shows, are accessible to TuneIn listeners: FOX News Talk, Kilmeade and Friends with Brian Kilmeade, The John Gibson Show, The Tom Sullivan Show, FOX Across America with Spencer Hughes and The Alan Colmes Show.
- Bloomberg Radio – Bloomberg Radio offers free Internet radio from the world’s most trusted source of financial news and business information. All programs broadcast on Bloomberg Radio and its affiliated station are now available on TuneIn.
- GoRadio.com – Fresh Internet radio covering multiple genres in one. TuneIn listeners can access one of four radio stations – Downhome, indigo, Meta and #ALLIN – to hear special shows, on-air personalities and unique music mixes hand-crafted for people that share the same lifestyle.
- Monocle 24 – Headquartered in London and launched in 2007, Monocle 24 broadcasts global affairs, business, culture and design programming. All broadcasts are available through TuneIn, including popular shows such as The Monocle Weekly and The Globalist.
- Public Radio Exchange (PRX) – An award-winning public media company, PRX is changing the sound of public radio, championing new, diverse and independent voices, and pioneering new approaches to program development. All shows, including signature programs such as The Moth Radio Hour, Sound Opinions, State of the Re:Union, Snap Judgment, American Routes and WTF with Marc Maron, are available to TuneIn listeners.
- Laut.FM – Laut.FM offers User Generated Radio™ with more than 350 Internet music channels, carefully curated by DJs and users to meet all tastes. All of Laut.FM’s streams are available across 150 TuneIn platforms.
- THIRD ROCK-RFC Media – “America’s Space Station,” THIRD ROCK is an online radio station, broadcasting live 24/7 with a mission of New Rock Discovery, and a passion for the excitement of what’s happening at NASA. Listeners can hear NASA’s only broadcast channel through more than 150 TuneIn platforms.
- 181.FM – “True R&B” Internet radio, all 79 stations are accessible through TuneIn.
- AddictedToRadio – Free Internet radio with 75 stations. All formats can be enjoyed by TuneIn listeners: Top 40/Pop, R&B/Hip-Hop, Rock, Dance (EDM), Dance (Old School), Decades (70s-90s), Blues/Jazz, Country/Americana, Oldies (20s-60s), Latin/World/Reggae, Classical/Relaxing and News/Talk/Info.
- AccuRadio – More than 650 channels of personalizable online radio, which listeners can mix and match to create their own custom music mix. Over 30 of AccuRadio’s most popular stations are available through TuneIn — including jazz, classical, Broadway, folk, world music and more — with additional channels coming soon!
- 977Music.com – Free Internet radio with no limit on how long you can listen with very few commercials. All 15 personally hand-crafted curated channels from www.977music.com are available for TuneIn listeners: 70’s Rock, 80’s Hits, 90’s Hits, Today’s Hits, Hip Hop/R&B, Adult Hits, Alternative, Country, Jazz Music, Comedy, Latin Hits, Christian Hits, Electronic Dance, Top 40 Dance and 50s, 60s Hits.
- Beasley Broadcast Group – Founded in 1961, Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. is a top 10 radio broadcasting company that owns and operates 44 stations serving 11 large- and mid-size markets in the United States, including Atlanta, Boston and Philadelphia. Popular stations such as WQAM/Miami, Power 96/Miami, Sunny 106/Fort Myers, KKLZ Greatest Hits/Las Vegas, 102.7 The Coyote/Las Vegas, AM 720 KDWN/Las Vegas, Wired 96.5/Philadelphia and 92.5 WXTU Philadelphia’s Country Station, are accessible via TuneIn.
- Midwest Communications – Over 40 stations across Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan are available for TuneIn listeners. These stations cover various music formats as well as news, talk, and sports. Stations include WVIC/Michigan, WTAQ-FM/Wisconsin, WIBQ/Illinois, and WMGI/Indiana.
- Federated Media — An independent, family owned company that offers innovative multi-media products, Federated Media aims to provide the highest quality form of information, entertainment and advertising to its listeners, viewers, advertisers and employees. TuneIn listeners can enjoy a variety of programming from all 14 Federated Media stations such as the legendary WOWO News Talk 92.3 in Fort Wayne IN, WRBR The Bear 103.9 in South Bend, IN and WAWC Willie 103.5 in Warsaw, IN.
- T-Mobile
- Windows 8
- Tesla
- HTC
- Live events:
- SXSW
- Summer Jam
- Outside Lands
- Euro 2012
- Wimbledon
