Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming platforms in the entire world. The Sweden-based commercial music streaming service provides digital audio content from a vast range of artists and record labels. The company has been around for quite some time and is the best application for music and podcast streaming in the United States and all other parts of the world.
Every once in a while, the company brings in new features to its application to improve its audio-based service and recently, Spotify has announced to have acquired Betty Labs, a Los Angeles-based developer of sports-based applications, specifically designed to provide better sports experiences. Betty Labs is also the parent company of the popular app ‘Locker Room’ which is a sports-based social audio platform.
According to a report by Reuters, Spotify has not disclosed the cost of Betty Labs acquisition but it did mention that in the coming months, the company will expand and evolve Locker Room’s services to offer sports, cultural programming, music and live discussions with professional artists, musicians, athletes, professionals and famous personalities. This shows that right after the company’s acquisition, Spotify is ready to change things and make the application better for users to enhance the user experience.
According to Crunchbase, last year in 2020, Betty Labs successfully raised USD 9.3 million from GV in a Seed funding round. The Sports-based audio platform was backed by a number of popular investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Precursor Ventures and Google’s parent company- Alphabet Inc.’s Venture Capital arm.
Gustav Soderstrom, Chief Officer of Research and Development, Spotify mentions in a statement that fans, listeners and creators have been asking Spotify to introduce Live formats for a long time and Spotify will soon make it available for hundreds and millions of Spotify listeners and creators.
Voice and audio-based platforms have become very popular during the COVID-19 pandemic and Betty Labs’ Locker Room which was launched recently in 2020 become a very popular platform for sports fans to chat and host watch parties on the platform.
Howard Akumiah, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Betty Labs says that the company is excited to join hands with Spotify that will enable the platform to continue its growth in the future of audio-based services. He further says that Betty labs will now invest more in its product and open the Live audio experience to Spotify’s established listener-base and further diversify its content offerings. He also mentions that Spotify will enable users to continue expanding the community that they have built till now.
