Music service Rdio acquires India's VC-backed Dhingana

Under the terms of the deal, Snehal and Swapnil Shinde – the twin brothers who founded Dhingana in 2007 - will join the executive team at Rdio and support its expansion efforts, according to a statement. The transaction paves the way for Rdio – which was set up by Skype co-creator Janus Friis - to enter India with Dhingana’s music catalogue.

Dhingana - which apparently closed down last month - claimed to have crossed the 9 million-user threshold late last year. It also launched its paid subscription model last July and tied up with network operator General Mobile to pre-load the app on one million handsets.

Launched in August 2010, Rdio is available globally and is funded through Friis’ own investment entities. The business has a subscription-based revenue model and claims to have on-demand access to over 20 million songs. It competes with the likes of Spotify and Pandora, but is the first of three to enter the Indian market.

Dhingana previously raised an undisclosed amount from Inventus and Helion in 2011. In October 2012, it further secured $7 million in Series B round led by Lightspeed with existing investors Inventus and Helion also taking part.

The company is the latest in a line of VC-backed digital ventures in India to be acquired by global players.

Last June, Delhi-based Ibibo Group – a joint venture 80%-owned by Naspers and 20% by Tencent - acquired bus ticketing company redBus.in, allowing Helion, Inventus and Seedfund to exit their investment. More recently, in January, Facebook acquired Ventureast and GSF Superangels-backed start-up Little Eye Labs, reportedly paying around $15 million for the Android app optimizer.

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