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Shazam app scores investment from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim

By CAROLINE LEE, UPI.com

Shazam, the cross-platform mobile app that identifies songs and commercials, has gotten major funding from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

Users of the app can hold up their mobile devices to speakers, and the app instantly recognizes the name and artist of the playing song. Funding for the UK-headquartered company is coming from Slim's company, America Movil.

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America Movil is one of the world's largest wireless communications firms and is contributing $40 million to the app. The firm will pre-install Shazam on certain smartphones in Latin America. The investment will enable Shazam to expand and develop more products.

The deal gives Slim a 10.8 percent stake in the company.

Shazam, while not profitable in itself, has generated $300 million in song purchases in the past year. Shazam gets a cut of each song sold when tagged through the app. The company has increased its user base to 70 million after funding in September 2012.

“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,” Slim said in a statement.

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