(Bloomberg) -- Losses at DAZN Group Ltd., the sports streaming platform backed by billionaire Len Blavatnik, swelled 79% to $2.3 billion in 2021 as it poured money into top soccer rights.

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Rights costs at the London-based company, pronounced “da zone,” soared to $1.9 billion in 2021 from $1.2 billion the year before, according to accounts shared by the company with Bloomberg. In an interview, Chief Executive Officer Shay Segev pointed to the “massive investment” that year to acquire Italian and German soccer rights.

Of the loss, $934.7 million was from financing costs, and the company recorded an operating loss of $1.36 billion. Blavatnik agreed to a recapitalization of DAZN in 2021 which resulted in its net debt dropping to $14.3 million at year-end from $1.3 billion a year earlier.

Those costs outweighed revenues, which grew 79% to $1.56 billion in 2021 as DAZN signed up new subscribers, with a majority of sales coming from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After a phase of wooing customers with low monthly prices, DAZN doubled them to €30 in Germany last year and has more recently upped them in Italy. It’s introducing packages for different bundles of sports, and plans to add a free service later this year.

Revenue in 2022 rose to $2.3 billion, the company said. DAZN is closely held and has only released its results for 2021 this week.

Segev said that although plans for an initial public offering are paused for now amid difficult global capital markets, it could happen in the next two or three years. DAZN would also welcome strategic investors, he added.

“I really don’t have any preference, I would just think that it actually makes sense for this to become a public company,” Segev said. “The Netflix story, the Amazon story — I think DAZN is going there as well.”