|
Music download firm Groove Mobile raises $8.5M in funding
Friday March 24, bizjournals.com
Groove Mobile Inc. has received $8.5 million in funding as it helps Sprint
Nextel Corp. and Orange Mobile deliver music to cellphone subscribers. The
company is based in Andover, Mass.
Backers included Egan-Managed Capital of Boston; Waltham, Mass.-based funds
Charles River Ventures and Kodiak Venture Partners; and Star Ventures of
Dallas. Sprint Nextel also invested, according to Forbes.
The service Groove created for Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S - News) is the most
expensive in the U.S. wireless industry, with the Reston, Va., carrier
charging $2.50 when subscribers download songs to their cellphones. Cingular
Wireless of Atlanta offers music through Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes
service, which charges 99 cents per song. Verizon Wireless of New Jersey
bills $1.99 for a similar service it debuted in January. Both Cingular and
Verizon require subscribers to transfer songs from a personal computer to a
cellphone.
Groove is in a race with several other companies to sign up wireless
carriers for its service. In mid-March, Canadian carrier Telus said it would
use a platform from Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV - News) to download
songs to subscribers for $2.50 each. Openwave obtained its system in its
$117 million acquisition of Musiwave in January. The Redwood City, Calif.,
company expects Musiwave contracts to produce at least $55 million in
revenue this year.
Last year, Canada's Rogers Wireless began offering music downloads using a
system from Melodeo Inc. of Seattle, and more recently adapting it for
so-called podcasts. Melodeo inked a technology development agreement late
last year with VeriSign Inc., which is acquiring Watertown, Mass.,
mobile-content delivery firm M-Qube Inc. for $250 million.
Published March 24, 2006 by the Boston Business Journal
|
|
