View Online Article

Mobile messaging and advertising company Affle has entered into a strategic agreement with Japanese mobile advertising firm, D2 Communications, which is a subsidiary of NTT DOCOMO in a JV with Dentsu, to provide mobile advertising solutions to companies across Asia. According to the press release, D2 Communications has also invested in Affle in order to deepen its relationship and establish a long term commitment to this partnership. The details about the investment have not been specified.

As a part of the partnership, Affle and D2 Communications will work together to develop marketing solutions for brand owners. The two would explore future partnerships through which Affle could launch its products in Japan and also replicate D2 Communication’s mobile advertising model in other Asian markets like India, Indonesia and China amongst others.

Affle’s products and services for mobile phones include SMSLive, which is the next version of its SMS2.0 app, Pinch Instant Messenger, and Coufon which delivers discounts and promotions on mobile phones. In addition to deploying advertisements on its own apps, it also power sells ads on networks of other mobile operators and companies including Airtel (powers advertising on voice services, SMS services, bills and everything outside of Airtel Live), Tata, NDTV Convergence and Mobile ESPN.

– Previous Investments

In 2010, Japan’s Itochu Corporation had picked up an undisclosed minority stake in Affle Holdings, a Singapore based holding company for Affle. In 2009, Microsoft had acquired almost 20% stake in Affle. Previous to that, it had raised $10 million in all. Other investors include BCCL (Times Of India Group) and Centurion Private Equity. Affle had also rasied a Series A round from undisclosed PE companies based in the Asia-Pacific region.