Blyk Grows To 4 Million Opt-In Subscribers To Mobile Advertising
Despite the news of co-founder and Chairman of Blyk Media India Antti Öhrling's departure last December, Blyk is seeing steep growth in its global opt-in audience base from one million at the end of 2010, to four million during 2011. Blyk runs permission-based marketing by partnering with mobile phone operators and allowing subscribers to interact with third-party brands and the operators. The company is partnered with T-Mobile and Orange in the UK, Vodaphone in the Netherlands, and Aircel in India.
24MAS Acquires Liquid Air Lab GmbH
Stockholm-based 24MAS, a specialist in mobile ads, has announced it has acquired Liquid Air Labs GmbH, a mobile radio application developer boasting 500 million minutes of radio airtime monthly across 1300 applications. The acquisition should fit the two companies nicely together. 24MAS operates through partnerships with mobile operators, media companies, publishers, and handset manufacturers in five continents, giving advertisers and application developers the opportunity to reach mobile users in more than 80 countries via its application and advertising platform.
24MAS Enters Mobile Gaming With THQ Wireless Acquisition
24MAS that specializes in mobile advertising and hosted applications is all set to step in the mobile gaming arena. The Swedish firm has acquired Game publisher, THQ’s Wireless gaming division. Let me get a grip here, advertising, app marketing/distribution and gaming all coming together, sounds quite the right stitch for success.
Get Compensated For Not Selecting Your Wallpaper - Mozoomi Replaces It With Ads
Mozoomi is a Swedish mobile advertising startup, aiming to enable advertising on the wallpapers of mobile phones. The background wallpaper image is one of the most seen images to mobile phone users. Mozoomi believes that the image has limited value to many users, but it can mean a great deal to advertisers. The company has been developing technology platform for making it possible to serve targeted, interactive ads to replace the wallpaper images. Mozoomi aims for the Asias and South American markets, and plans to pilot the service by the end of the year, as mentioned in an interview by Swedish site E24.
Steve Jobs Did It Again – First Content, Then Device And Now Mobile Ads
Apple will be the talk of the town in mobile advertising this year. Last week at Apple’s OS 4 event, Jobs presented what advertising industry has been asking from mobile: iAd - the engagement media with scale and quality.
For brands, mobile advertising has had a big promise but no breakthrough: digital media and technology companies trying to fit the traditional online advertising model - mainly display and search - into mobile have not taken off. Mobile media is different to online: being based on communications and quick tasks one performs, not browsing, mobile requires different user experience. Running banners on mobile is like running radio ads on tv.
Is Blyk Done Being A Startup?
Just as Blyk, an ad-funded, youth-oriented mobile virtual network operator, announced their partnership with Aito, they come and announce that they have closed a significant funding round of 40 million euros ($50.4 million) from their existing investors, which include Goldman Sachs, IFIC and Sofinnova Partners. Considerign the current economic climate this achievement is that much more significant.
But by following the news one can't but wonder whether Blyk is a startup anymore at all. MocoNews.net, a news site covering the business of mobile content, reports that just as Blyk took in the investment it also announced lay offs.
Here's a quote from Pekka Ala-Pietilä, Blyk CEO, on MocoNews.net:
[...]we are experiencing tougher times and unpredictable times ahead of us, and we like everyone else are feeling the impact, so we have to be well prepared and to do things differently internally. We are working more smartly, and we have to cut the number of people. But I can’t disclose that number.
So on one hand you have the 40 million euro that just came in and on the other you have a group of people whose services are not needed anymore at Blyk.
As said times are tough for those who try to raise financing. VC funds don't just give out money, but the firms need to work hard to get it in and commit to certain conditions. Add to that the fact that one of the investors that is part of the 40m euro round is the infamous Goldman Sachs who is known to be cut throat in everything they do, and you start to see why Blyk partly adjusted their strategy (new partnerships with operators), and especially why the people who were there for the startup stage need to go. The firm is not a startup anymore, but a full blown company that needs professional management, not some quirky founder DNA. At least this is how the investors see it and after all they are calling the shots when one decides to take that route.
We all grow up, even startups. Regardless, ArticStartup congratulates Blyk by pulling this off when most companies are busy telling each other how they should stop thinking about growing and start thinking about surviving.
Here's what a Finnish serial entrepreneur and dealmake Taneli Tikka makes of the news.
