We7 secures new funding round

We7, the music streaming service backed by former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel, has secured a new round of funding which will kick-start its expansion into Europe.

The UK group, which competes with Spotify, announced that Mr Gabriel and Eden Ventures had injected more cash and brought in Qualcomm and Pentech Ventures. The company did not disclose the size of the investment.

"The new money will allow the company to expand into new territories across Europe as well as enabling we7 to further grow in the UK," the company said.

The service currently has more than three million unique monthly users, with a library of more than seven million songs. It was set up in 2006 by John Taysom. Mr Gabriel and chief executive Steve Purdham came in as founder investors the following year when the service launched.

Mr Purdham said there was "no doubt in my mind that we're on the cusp of seeing a massive change in how people consume music".

He added that in the coming months, we7 would announce "key partnerships" alongside expansion plans into Europe.