Shazam Surpasses 50 Million Global Users and Attracts Investment from the Backers of Google and Amazon

Shazam, the world’s leading mobile music discovery provider, today announced that more than 50 million people around the world have used the Shazam service, an increase of 15 million users since February of this year. The phenomenal milestone signifies just how popular the music discovery service has become which is now live in more than 150 countries. Shazam is also announcing a strategic investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers who has an unparalleled track record in assisting digital consumer businesses such as Google and Amazon to become market leading global enterprises.

 

“This milestone and the backing of KPCB is a testament to both the success and enormous potential of Shazam,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “Not only are significantly more people around the world accessing the service every day, they are using it with increased frequency, discovering and acquiring new music and sharing their discoveries with friends all from their mobile phones. “Shazam is profitable and experiencing sustained acceleration in its growth rate. We are delighted to be partnering with KPCB, who join our existing investors Acacia Capital and DN Capital and will help us execute against the significant market opportunity ahead.”

 

Shazam takes users on a truly unique and enhanced music journey that starts by simply holding a mobile device towards a song as it is playing. The company has seen explosive growth since launching on the iPhone 3G in the summer of 2008 with its application being downloaded more than 10 million times on the iPhone App Store as well as being amongst the highest downloaded applications on BlackBerry App World, Nokia’s Ovi Store and Google’s Android Market. In all cases, Shazam is consistently rated among the most popular applications on each respective platform. The company recently won the Mobile Entertainment Award for Best Music Services Provider 2009.

 

“We’re delighted to be leading this round of financing for Shazam. Their iconic application is among the most popular and sticky in the mobile industry,” said Matt Murphy who led the investment for Kleiner Perkins and manages the iFund. “We’ve met hundreds of companies and received thousands of mobile app business plans, but none have distinguished themselves on par with Shazam. We’re still in the early days of the mobile application phenomenon and Shazam’s leadership in the massive mobile entertainment and discovery category, positions them to be at the forefront as it evolves.”

 

The KPCB investment is being made from its iFund and will enable the company to continue to expand accessibility of the service around the world by continuing to develop applications for additional mobile platforms and in multiple languages.

 

About Shazam Entertainment

Shazam is the world’s leading mobile music discovery application - enabling consumers to experience and share music with others across mobile devices and the internet. Since its launch as the first mobile-specific service to help users discover new music seven years ago, over 50 million people have used the service. Shazam has created a new way for users to connect to each other through their music tastes and preferences.

 

Headquartered in London, England, Shazam’s solutions enhance the music strategies of carriers in more than 150 countries, including AT&T, T-Mobile and Vodafone. It has deployed across multiple platforms such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian and Java.

 

The Shazam Tag Chart, generated by the company’s mobile music recognition service, is constantly referenced by the music industry as a true indicator of market interest in pre-release material and a monitor of the hit potential of a track or artist.

 

Shazam’s successes have been recognised through numerous awards, including the Mobile Entertainment Award for Best Music Service Provider.

 

For more information please visit www.shazam.com [1]

 

The Shazam name and symbol are trademarks of Shazam Entertainment Limited.

 

About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Since its founding in 1972, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has backed entrepreneurs in over 500 ventures, including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq Computer, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Genomic Health, Google, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Lotus, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, VeriSign and Xilinx. KPCB portfolio companies employ more than 250,000 people. More than 150 of the firm’s portfolio companies have gone public. Many other ventures have achieved success through mergers and acquisitions. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, California; Beijing, China; and Shanghai, China.

For additional information visit, www.kpcb.com [2]