Electronics producer Apple confirmed today it has acquired Shazam, a UK-based music identification app developer backed by a range of corporate investors.
Although neither company disclosed how much Apple paid, an undisclosed source told TechCrunch on Friday the price would be about $400m, and it was confirmed to Recode by three people familiar with the matter.
Shazam has developed an app capable of identifying background music through a mobile device’s microphone, though the company has expanded into commercial partnerships that tie in with television media campaigns.
The app had been downloaded more than 1 billion times since its 1999 launch as of September 2016, but Shazam itself has had difficulty reaching profitability. Its technology is less individual today than at its launch but the app would likely be integrated into Apple’s music offering.
The company has raised more than $130m in venture funding, securing $7.5m from IDG Ventures Europe, then an affiliate of media company International Data Group, and Lynx New Media in 2001 and adding $5m from IDG Ventures and DN Capital three years later.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led a $32m round for the company in 2011 that included Institutional Venture Partners and DN Capital, before telecommunications company América Móvil invested $40m in 2013 at a $370m valuation.
Shazam received $20m from undisclosed investors in March 2014 before record companies Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group and conglomerate Access Industries jointly bought $9m of secondary shares at a reported $500m valuation two months later.
The company’s peak valuation of $1bn was achieved in early 2015 when it raised $30m in funding from unnamed backers.
– This article was amended on December 12, 2017 to reflect Apple’s confirmation of the deal.