Shazam Gets New Funding And Plans To Enter TV Ad Market With Shazam for TV.

Sharzan, the company that offers audio fingerprinting technology letting users identify music users hear and want to listen to again later and purchase the same. Users just hold the phone to the direction of the song they are hearing and the app will recognize and direct the user to correct destination.
Sharzan now enjoys over 150 Million users and looks like wanting to test familiar but new waters, TV Advertising. They got $32 million to do that as well.

London, UK – 22 June, 2011 - Shazam®, the world’s leading mobile discovery company, today announced that it has raised $32 million in new funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), with existing investor DN Capital participating. The investment will be used to support the company’s continued growth and the development of Shazam’s real-time discovery and sharing App which creates an engaging, interactive mobile commerce platform for brands as it expands into television with Shazam for TV.

“Shazam has experienced incredible growth over the last year and established itself as the ultimate mobile App for media discovery and interaction,” said Matt Murphy, Partner at KPCB. “The recent additions of Shazam Friends, synchronized lyrics in LyricPlay, and Shazam for TV are just the start to expanding the functionality of a magical technology.”

With the 150 millionth Shazamer just around the corner, Shazam is on a trajectory to achieve 250 million users within two years and continues to dominate the mobile discovery market.

“Over the last 12 months, Shazam has seen a 100% increase in the number of people downloading its mobile application each week, making it an integral part of their life,” said Dennis Phelps, General Partner at IVP. “With four million tags a day, Shazam is uniquely positioned to capitalize the increasing propensity of consumers to use their mobile devices for discovery, sharing and commerce.”

This coveted reach is the reason leading networks such as NBCUniversal and MTV have worked with Shazam to incorporate Shazam for TV into their shows during the last year. With millions of consumers already accustomed to Shazaming for more information, networks and advertisers don’t have to invest in establishing a new behavior to further engage with their audience. In fact, according to Google, 72% smartphone owners use their phone while consuming other media – like watching TV. By creating Shazamable shows and commercials, networks and brands can give their viewers an unobtrusive “second screen” experience without interrupting what they’re watching. Additionally, Shazam works with these producers and advertisers to create a rich, interactive experience that gives viewers more information about the shows and products they love rather than just a simple “check-in.”

“Music is still at the core of our DNA and will always remain fundamental to who we are. Our expansion into television is a natural evolution of our technology and we are excited to have delivered the same powerful discovery experience for broadcasting and advertising that people have always loved with music,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “Our size and growth is unparalleled in the industry and gives our network and brand partners reach not available with anyone else. This investment will support our continued growth, both organically and through acquisition, as well as the ongoing development of new features and products, keeping us at the forefront of innovation.”

Recently, Shazam released its latest enhancement to its premium applications with Shazam LyricPlay in Encore and (SHAZAM) RED on iOS, allowing music lovers to view lyrics synched in real-time to music. Creating a more personal, interactive experience, LyricPlay has multiple themed visualisations giving Shazamers a unique and innovative new way to see lyrics to songs they are tagging, so they can sing-along or just find out the words to the track. Previously, Shazam released Shazam Friends, which allows Shazamers to see a real-time feed of what their friends are tagging.

Shazam has more than 100 employees and is headquartered in London with offices in Palo Alto, New York, Los Angeles and Seoul. The Shazam App is available on iOS, Android, Java, BlackBerry, Windows, Symbian and all other major platforms and is available in more than 30 languages and 200 countries around the world.

Sharzan