Ad-Supported Messaging Vendor Secures Additional Funding

USA based 4INFO, which offers ad-supported mobile alerts, has secured a further round of funding - raising $20 million in equity and debt funding from all its existing investors and one new investor. Existing investors Peacock Equity - the joint venture between GE Capital's Media, Communications & Entertainment finance business and NBC Universal - and Gannett led the funding, in addition to US Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Sand Hill Capital. Joining these existing investment partners is new investor Selby Ventures.

4INFO delivers over eighty million real-time, user-requested answers and alerts via text message per month.

4INFO's consumer services provide real-time SMS information and entertainment messages on subjects ranging from sports and weather to celebrity gossip and stock market news. The company says that it delivers over eighty million ad-supported messages per month.

4INFO says that it will use this funding to continue expansion into traditional media partnerships for integrated mobile campaigns, as well as accelerated development of 4INFO mobile marketing services and rich media technology.

"As a market leader in the rapidly-growing SMS category and broader mobile media space 4INFO continues to deliver at an impressive pace," said Tom Byrne, managing director and group head, Peacock Equity. "We are very pleased to deepen our strategic investment as we see value in the short term and in 4INFO's ability to engage additional progressive media partners for content delivery over the long term."

Posted to the site on 24th January 2009