In a busy day of announcements, rapidly growing Motricity confirmed Wednesday that its is buying a California-based wireless application developer and moving its headquarters to the American Tobacco complex in the Bull City.
Motricty, which recently closed on $30 million in venture capital and has now raised some $60 million, is using some of those funds to buy M7 Networks. M7 is based in La Jolla, CA, and is privately held as is Motricity.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“M7 Networks brings to Motricity an opportunity to expand our reach with wireless subscribers, strengthen key partnerships and create opportunities for new ones,” said Ryan Wuerch, Motricity’s chief executive officer. “The addition of mobile community and advanced e-commerce capabilities to Motricity’s proven Fuel mobile content delivery platform, will allow Motricity’s partners to reliably deliver a higher volume of valuable content to the right users. And, our business models, philosophies and cultures could not be better aligned.”
M7, which has raised some $27 million in venture capital, provides wireless services to link what it calls “mobile communities” for games and music and other entertainment. Its applications include reviews, tournaments, buddy lists and loyalty programs. M7 customers include Sprint, Cingular, Verizon Wireless, and Telecom New Zealand.
“The influence of mobile communities is equivalent to that of the online communities surrounding eBay, Amazon or AOL. Communities are made up of individuals who are actively seeking additional information and recommendations on content and services,” Wuerch added. “By creating and supporting mobile communities, we are helping wireless operators, content providers, media companies, portals and other partners accelerate adoption of new content through demand generated by user-to-user interactions. In fact, some of M7 Networks’ carrier partners have seen download rates of community-enabled content outpace non-community download rates by 2-3 times.”
M7 will operate as a division of Motricity and maintain an office in La Jolla.
Also Wednesday, Motricity said it had acquired rights to use 70,000 square feet of space in the Hill Building, which is part of the American Tobacco Historic District. The building is scheduled to be renovated and opened in 2006. The complex is operated by Capitol Broadcasting.
Motricty’s headquarters are currently located on Meridian Parkway in Durham.
Motricity: www.motricity.com
