Shazam Receives $40M From Carlos Slim's America Movil
The media engagement company has teamed up with one of the world's wealthiest men to further growth in the Americas.
Media engagement company Shazam has received $40 million from Latin American wireless services provider America Movil and its co-chairman, billionaire Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim.
According to America Movil, it has acquired 10.8 percent of the shares representing the capital stock of Shazam as a result.
The companies also announced they have established a strategic business collaboration for the Americas.
In a prepared statement, Shazam Executive Chairman Andrew Fisher said the partnership will further its growth in the Americas “as we seek to become an increasingly important part of people’s everyday lives.”
More specifically, Shazam says the investment will help accelerate ongoing growth in music, continued expansion into television, and the development of new products.
Shazam has more than 350 million worldwide users. In addition, Shazam says it sees more than two million new users each week.
America Movil says it had 262.9 million wireless subscribers as of March 31.
“Shazam is defining a new category of media engagement which combines the power of mobile with traditional broadcast media and advertising to create compelling value added experiences for consumers, content providers and brands,” said Slim in a written statement.
In June 2011, Shazam raised $32 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Institutional Venture Partners, and DN Capital. Acacia Capital Partners is also listed as an investor on the Shazam website.
Since its last round, Shazam says it has expanded its services into television and advertising.
“Shazam’s expansion into television has moved the company into an entirely new phase of growth with interactive advertising generating new sources of revenue and partnerships with broadcasters encouraging a broader group of people to use Shazam more frequently,” said Shazam CEO Rich Riley in a prepared statement.
Riley joined the company in April.
In the last year, Shazam says it has updated the design and increased the speed of its app for iOS and Android. In addition, earlier this month, Shazam launched a new iPad app that includes a new feature, auto-tagging, which helps people recognize and engage with any media playing around them automatically.
