Arun Sarin to advise Saavn on business strategies

BENGALURU: India’s music streaming service company, Saavn has appointed former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin as Investor and Strategic Advisor. Saavn indicates that Sarin joins the company as its growth continues to prove the market demand for music streaming in India.

Saavn also announced the company’s new milestones, which includes a 10-fold increase in daily active users in India since 2014, a new average of a quarter billion streams per month, and a catalog of 20 million tracks. In July 2015, Saavn announced a $100 million Series C and reported 14 million monthly active users. Saavn has noted that in just less than two months, the company has grown to nearly 18 million monthly active users, with a majority of them from India.

“As we continue to build a world-class mobile entertainment company, we believe in collaborating with the best partners in the world. With over 90% of our usage driven by smartphones, Saavn users are moving data plan transactions and driving data engagement at an incredible pace. In the coming months, you’ll see us work more deeply with carriers in India and additional territories. We’re honored to have the support of Arun, who brings unmatched industry insight, experience, and instincts to our business, commented Rishi Malhotra, Co-Founder and CEO of Saavn.”

The release said that as CEO of the global telecom giant Vodafone plc, Sarin was one of the first to predict the mass adoption of mobile phones in emerging markets. His support for Saavn underscores a similar trend underway in the music industry.

“Music streaming is a core app on today’s smartphones, and Saavn is superbly positioned to grow rapidly in the fast expanding smartphone market in India. As an innovative and nimble music streaming company, at the heart of one of the world’s most valuable markets, Saavn hits all the right notes. I look forward to working with the Saavn team on the company’s continued progress,” Sarin said.

Sarin joins Saavn on the heels of the company’s latest funding round in July, this year.  Saavn’s Series C round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Bertelsmann India Investments, Steadview Capital, Liberty Media, Mousse Partners, Quilvest, and additional Hong Kong-based hedge funds.