Indian music streaming service Saavn, LLC. has raised $100 million Series C in a round led by Tiger Global Management.

Founded in 2007, Saavn is said to be India’s leading digital music service, that further “transforms how people around the world access and experience music on a daily basis,” or in less floury language, it’s basically India’s version of Spotify AB.

The company offers a combination of both Internet radio and on-demand music, as well social features including music tagging and music chat.

Although many people potentially reading this post will never have heard of the company, the numbers they boast of are impressive: 14 million active users, with three million active users being added between March and the end of June, with a target of hitting 20 million users by the end of the year.

Saavn is said to be accessed in more than 150 countries (it is a global service) and offers seven million+ tracks in 11 languages: Hindi, English (in India only), Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bhojpuri.

Along with streaming rights from big Western companies such as Universal, Sony, and Warner Music, the company has 900+ label partnerships in total.

Like Spotify, Saavn offers both a free, ad-supported tier, and a paid, pro version that delivers users both ad-free listening, and support for offline music playing.

“Music streaming is at the center of the music industry, and India is one of the most important music economies in the world. With 2 million Androids shipping each week, music is driving data consumption and redefining mobile advertising,” Saavn Chief Executive Officer Rishi Malhotra said in a statement. “We are building the best-in-class mobile entertainment ecosystem, with music as the foundation. Our investors continue to be the best partners in the world.”

Growing market

Although available globally, Saavn is doing something that its Western competitors are primarily not particularly focused on, and that’s targeting the growing online population in India, a country, not unlike China, with an emerging middle class and rapid internet adoption.

Its main competitor Dhingana closed in 2014 and was acquired by Rdio, Inc. as that company looked for a slice of the Indian market pie as well; when you’re talking potential long term listener numbers in the nine figures (that’s hundred of millions), you’d be mad not to try to get your piece of the action.

Including the new round Saavn has raised $110 million to-date. Previous investors include Steadview Capital and Nihal Mehta.

The company said it would use the new round “to drive long-term product development and aggressive customer acquisition” as well as investing in advertising technology, sales staff, and new content partnerships.

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