Twitter swoops for £20m Indian content startup
TWITTER yesterday confirmed it has bought Zipdial, a mobile content marketing startup based in India which lets users connect through Twitter without being online, in a deal worth around $30m (£19.75m).
Zipdial provides a “missed call” feature allowing users to receive inbound marketing via text message, app notifications or voice calls after making a call to a free number.
Users avoid incurring the cost of being online in countries where data costs are high or connections are unstable but brands are still able to post updates and engage with users.
The investment, its first in India, is a significant investment in services for emerging markets where Twitter sees room for user growth.
“Over the next several years, billions of people will come online for the first time in countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia,” said Twitter’s vice president of product Christian Oestlien. “For many, their first online experience will be on a mobile device – but the cost of data may prevent them from experiencing the true power of the internet. Twitter, in partnership with ZipDial, can make great content more accessible to everyone.”