Rogers Ventures, the venture capital arm of Rogers Communications, has invested $5 million into Palo Alto-based Zoove. The money will be used to “further accelerate its U.S. operations as the exclusive provider of StarStar numbers”. Curious what “StarStar numbers” are? The model is all based on monetising mobile and is similar to having vanity URL, but specifically for mobile numbers.
On the Zoove website they give the example of “StarStar Numbers are a fast and easy way to request just about anything for their mobile phone. Simply call **BRAND (**27263), and boom! Web pages, coupons, videos, ringtones, apps, and alerts are in their hand. No URLs, disjointed short codes or annoying picture taking. Simply call **ANYTHING on any phone to be connected”.
Zoove has done advertising campaigns for **SUZUKI (**789854) and **FLOWERS (**3569377) and is only offered in the United States. There’s currently to plans to bring this to Canada, but you can bet it will eventually make it’s way up north. Mobile advertising expected to reach $4.7 billion in 2011 so it’s understandable why Rogers wants in on the business.
Source: PRNewswire
Via: BizJournals
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