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Swedish streaming giant Spotify wants to accelerate its entry into the audiobook space to serve its 381m active users.
Spotify is set to acquire digital audiobook company Findaway in an effort to accelerate its entry into the rapidly growing audiobook market.
Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021 and is subject to regulatory review and approval.
The deal will enable Swedish streaming giant Spotify to add audiobooks to its existing music and podcast offerings.
It announced a partnership deal with Swedish audiobook streaming service Storytel earlier this year. Findaway, which has an audiobook distribution business, already has partnerships with several audiobook publishers including Storytel, Amazon’s Audible, Apple and Google.
“It is Spotify’s ambition to be the destination for all things audio both for listeners and creators. The acquisition of Findaway will accelerate Spotify’s presence in the audiobook space and will help us more quickly meet that ambition,” said Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s chief R&D officer.
“We’re excited to combine Findaway’s team, best-in-class technology platform and robust audiobook catalogue with Spotify’s expertise to revolutionise the audiobook space as we did with music and podcasts,” he added.
Spotify has around 381m monthly active users, with 172m of those being premium subscribers. It boasts more than 70m tracks including 3.2m podcast titles.
Findaway co-founder and CEO Mitch Kroll said the company would have the opportunity to “innovate and democratise the audiobook ecosystem” with Spotify.
“We founded Findaway with the recognition of the power of the spoken word through audiobooks and the unique opportunity to empower storytellers and connect them with listeners. We look forward to combining our leading technology tools and world-class team with the reach of Spotify’s platform to provide an enhanced audio experience for creators, publishers and listeners around the world.”
Kroll, who founded Findaway in 2005, will continue to lead the company from its headquarters in Ohio. He will report to Nir Zicherman, head of audiobooks at Spotify.
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