In today’s update of technology news: Spotify aims for IPO next year; Valencel inks deal with Samsung; and Facebook messenger service hits 1 billion users.

Spotify, the music streaming service, could go public next year, according to Bloomberg.

The 10-year-old company lost money every year of its existence, even though it earned more than 2 billion in 2015.

Bloomberg cited five unidentified people it said are familiar with its IPO plans. Bloomberg notes that companies awash in red ink such as Amazon and Telsa succeeded in public markets despite huge losses.

Spotify has 30 million customers, the majority ponying up $10 a month to access its streaming library of millions of songs. Competitor Pandora, with 80 million users, reported $1 .2 billion in sales last year.

Losses, Bloomberg points out, largely come from the fact that record labels get about 55% of spot if I sales with publishes also getting cuts. For more, see: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/will-a-spotify-ipo-live-up-to-its-8-billion-valuation

Valencel inks wearables deal with Samsung

Lauren Ohnesorge reports in the Triangle Business Journal that Triangle startup Valencel has closed a deal with Samsung Electronics to giv e the tech giant access to its patents in “hearable” devices such as its coming Gear IconX cord-free fitness earbuds.

For the full story see: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2016/07/raleigh-wearables-upstart-scores-samsung-deal.html

Facebook Messenger hits 1 billion users

Facebook said today that is messenger service has hit 1 billion monthly users.

Facebook itself crossed that line four years ago. It separated its mobile chat app from the site two years ago as it increased its focus on mobile users.

For the full story at c/net see: http://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-messenger-hits-one-billion-users/