Today: Kleiner Perkins and IVP are leading a $32 million funding round for Shazam, maker of a popular app for iPhone, Android and other platforms. Plus: Apple’s (AAPL) next iPhone. And: The Fed and the economy.
$32M for Shazam
Silicon Valley venture capital powerhouses Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Institutional Venture Partners are leading a $32 million funding round for Shazam, maker of a popular app for iPhone, Android and other platforms that helps smartphone owners answer the question: What’s that song that’s playing?
Shazam is based in London, but has offices in Palo Alto and elsewhere. According to a news release today, the upstart intends to use the funding both to fuel its growth and to develop its new Shazam for TV app.
“Shazam has experienced incredible growth over the last year and established itself as the ultimate mobile app for media discovery and interaction,” Kleiner partner Matt Murphy said in the news release.
According to the news release, Shazam is working with such media giants as NBC Universal and MTV to support the creation of “Shazamable shows and commercials.” “Music is still at the core of our DNA and will always remain fundamental to who we are,” Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher noted. “Our expansion into television is a natural evolution of our technology.”
More startup headlines
Apple’s next iPhone
We don’t know for sure when Apple will release its next iPhone — but according to a Bloomberg News report today, the newest smartphone from the Cupertino maker of Mac computers and “i” devices will have a faster A5 processor and more advanced 8-megapixel camera.
According to Bloomberg, which cited “two people familiar with the product,” the launch of the next iPhone model will be timed to coincide with the release of Apple’s iOS 5 software in the fall.
Apple stock, by the way, finished regular trading today at $322.61, down $2.69, or 0.8 percent, from Tuesday’s closing price.
The Fed and the economy
Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues at the Federal Reserve today acknowledged that the recovery from the Great Recession may be stalling. Even so, the Fed won’t expand its effort to jump-start economic growth by purchasing $600 billion worth of longer-term Treasury bonds. That program will end, as scheduled, by the end of the month.
“The economic recovery is continuing at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly” than expected, the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement posted on the Fed’s website. “Also, recent labor market indicators have been weaker than anticipated.”
The Fed, however, will keep its key short-term federal funds rate at zero to 0.25 percent (pretty much as low as it can be) “for an extended period.”
Silicon Valley tech stocks
Up: Gilead Sciences (GILD).
Down: Apple, Oracle (ORCL), Google, Intel (INTC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), VMware, eBay (EBAY), Yahoo (YHOO).
Shares of Adobe Systems (ADBE) dropped sharply a day after the San Jose maker of expensive graphic design and Internet software reported earnings for its most recent quarter. Adobe’s profit and sales beat Wall Street expectations. However, according to Bloomberg News, analysts were disappointed in Adobe’s sales in Europe. Adobe stock dropped $2, or 6.2 percent, to $30.01.
In the broader market, stocks turned downward after the Fed released its statement about the economy.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 18.07, or 0.7 percent, to 2,669.19.
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 80.34, or 0.7 percent, to 12,109.67.
And the widely watched Standard & Poor’s 500 index: Down 8.38, or 0.6 percent, to 1,287.14.
Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Frank Russell at 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike.
