Sees investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers

Oct 14, 2009 06:58 GMT  ·  By

Shazam, the leading mobile music discovery provider, has announced today that it has reached a number of more than 50 million users all around the world. According to the company, the number of users who tried the Shazam service has increased with 15 million since February this year, showing that the music discovery service is becoming more and more popular among mobile phone owners all around the world. Moreover, the company has also announced that Shazam is now available in over 150 countries on the globe.

Due to the massive popularity the service has seen lately, other industry players also became interested in it, and Shazam has announced today a strategic investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a company that is already known for its contribution to assisting digital consumer businesses, including Google and Amazon, in their quest to become leading brands on the market.

“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.”

As many of you might already know, Shazam is a service that enables users to discover music by simply holding a mobile device towards a song that is being played. The service was available on the iPhone 3G back in 2008, and has seen impressive growth ever since. The app has been downloaded more than 10 million times from the Apple App Store, and it has also turned out to be one of the most popular apps in other software portals, including BlackBerry App World, Nokia’s Ovi Store and Google’s Android Market. Moreover, the company also won the Mobile Entertainment Award for Best Music Services Provider 2009, and its app is rated as the most popular on all application storefronts.

“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.”