Shazam wants to expand outside of just identifying music

Shazam, the company behind the mobile phone app that enables its 100 million users to recognize music they hear, and buy the recordings, is now promising to extend the app’s scope to objects, such as products in retail outlets. “Shazam is already a verb. We want to expand the universe of what you can Shazam,” Chief Executive Rich Riley told Reuters at the Mobile World Congress industry fair in Barcelona. To fund the expansion the London-based company raised $30 million from several unidentified billionaires and financial institutions in January, coming on top of $40 million raised from Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim in 2013. Riley said these additional funds would help the venture-capital backed company add to its 250-strong staff and sign additional partnerships with publishers and content companies. “The famous blue button that our users love will remain on the home screen but will be able to do much more,” he said.