Blyk wins funds for Netherlands plan (UK)Blyk, a mobile phone operator that offers free calls to teenagers in exchange for sending them advertisements, is to expand into the Netherlands and has received funding from Goldman Sachs, the investment bank.
Goldman Sachs is the first heavyweight investor for the company, which has to date been backed by Sofinnova Partners, a French venture capital company, and a number of private individuals. The size of the investment was not disclosed. The Industrial and Financial Investments Company, a Kuwait-based fund, has also taken a stake.
The new investments give credibility to what has been seen as a highly experimental business model. Founded by a former Nokia executive, Blyk launched in the UK in September, offering a target market of 16 to 24-year-olds free phone calls and text messages in return for viewing up to six ads a day on their handsets.
Mobile phone companies across the world are experimenting with mobile advertising as a way to generate new revenues. Vodafone and T-Mobile, for example, have teamed up with Yahoo to sell advertising on their mobile internet pages. However, Blyk is one of very few mobile operators to rely almost totally on ad funding.
Analysts at Informa expect the market to be worth more than $11bn (£5.5bn) by 2011.
Earlier this week, the company revealed it was on track to reach 100,000 users in the UK by the end of September. It is thought to be signing up more than 2,000 new users each week. It said its average response rate to ad cam.
