Pandora, the maker of the most popular free music application on the iPhone, has raised a new funding round led by GGV Capital.
The Oakland, Calif. company’s app creates personalized radio stations built around the song or artist of your choice. Pandora announced in April that it has passed the 50 million-user mark. The company also said it had its first profitable quarter at the end of 2009. (It makes money through a combination of advertising and subscription fees.)
In addition to GGV, Allen & Company also participated in the round. The amount of funding was not disclosed. Pandora previously raised $57 million total.
There has been some speculation about whether Pandora will have an initial public offering. In an article earlier this year about how the company has survived while so many music startups died, Pandora told The New York Times that it’s focused on growth rather than an IPO, but it also hired Steve Cakebread as its chief financial officer — and Cakebread was the CFO who also took Salesforce.com public.
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The funding doesn’t rule out an IPO down the road, but it suggests that it’s not on the immediate horizon.
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