Last week IndianWeb2 reported that Twitter was in advanced talks to acquire Bangalore-based ZipDial for between $30 million and $40 million, and today Twitter announced the deal has closed as Twitter looks to expand in the world's second-biggest mobile market, India.
Twitter in its official blog's post announced - "We're very pleased to announce we've reached an agreement to acquire ZipDial, a product partner based in Bangalore, India, to make Twitter even more accessible to people around the world."
ZipDial in its official blog confirms the acquisition, "This is a huge achievement for the entire ZipDial team, and an opportunity to reflect on everything we’ve accomplished since our start in 2010. The company was founded on the insight that consumers and brands in emerging markets behave differently and have different needs. We build for them and their unique behaviors.", said Valerie Wagoner, CEO & Co-Founder, ZipDial.
Twitter did not disclose terms of the purchase however as per unidentified sources, the deal is at $30 million to $40 million. This Twitter's first ever Indian startup acquisition.
ZipDial has built a mobile platform that lets people follow and engage with content across all interfaces. The user experience combines SMS, voice, mobile web, and access to mobile apps to bridge users from offline to online. For example, through ZipDial, it’s easy to engage with a publisher or brand by making a toll-free “missed call” to a designated phone number. The caller will then begin receiving inbound content and further engagement on their phone in real time through voice, SMS or an app notification. These interactions are especially appealing in areas where people aren’t always connected to data or only access data through intermittent wifi networks.
Over the past two years Twitter collaborated with ZipDial on a variety of campaigns, including the Indian elections, Bollywood film promotions and @MTVIndia's #RockTheVote "Dial the Hashtag" campaign.
With this acquisition, Twitter might use ZipDial's platform to deliver itself to feature phones and others with irregular Internet connections.
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