Shazam (News - Alert) Entertainment Ltd., the creators of the popular song identification app, has just received a large investment from the second richest man in the world. Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB has invested $40 million in the company, netting him a 10.8-percent stake. According to chairman Andrew Fisher, the deal also came with an agreement to pre-install Shazam on mobile phones sold in Latin America.

For those unfamiliar with Shazam, its technology utilizes algorithms in order to decipher parts of music and correlate them to the name of the song. Starting with a mobile app, Shazam has since expanded into tags for ads and television shows. Most notably, it had over one million customers during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. Such success has led Shazam to want to partner for the World Cup next year and the 2016 Olympics, both of which will be taking place in Brazil.


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“Ultimately it’s about people not having to type ‘www.’ to go to a website,” Fisher said. The deal is about “enhancing the service to give people more reasons to use Shazam as part of their everyday life, not just music.”

Following this investment, Shazam will look to grow. The pre-installations on phones will likely increase the user base, which is already at over 350 million globally. And by connecting with more advertisers and broadcasters, Shazam hopes to surpass its annual digital sales of $300 million. All of this seems to point to Shazam eventually going public, but Fisher says that such a move will not come this year.

“We are certainly on a path toward an IPO, but not in 2013,” he said. “It’s a plan for the future. Right now, we’re seeing great benefit in staying a private company.”

While the IPO may be later rather than sooner, the investment from Slim is still a good sign for the company.