Twitter has finally acquired Indian mobile marketing start-up ZipDial following a report last week. The makes Twitter’s first acquisition in the country.
The ZipDial acquisition will make Twitter even more accessible to people around the world. Twitter said ZipDial’s user experience “combines SMS, voice, mobile Web, and access to mobile apps to bridge users from offline to online. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“Over the next several years, billions of people will come online for the first time in countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia. 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.:
said Christian Oestlien, VP of Product, Twitter in a press release.
ZipDial’s platform has engaged nearly 60 million users with hundreds of marketer clients, including the world’s leading brands and media companies. The platform’s unique model of engaging users while “offline”enables ZipDial to personalize the experience and content in ways that are not possible on traditional online platforms.
“More than half of the world’s population live in emerging and newly developed markets, and these consumers use their mobile phones differently. We build for them. ZipDial’s innovative platform has already scaled across South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, where we operate. We are thrilled to expand our impact to a global level with Twitter.”
said Valerie Wagoner, Founder and CEO, ZipDial.
Prior to the acquisition, Twitter has teamed with ZipDial on various campaigns over the last couple of years such as Bollywood film promotions, Indian national elections, and get-out-the-vote efforts in the South Asian nation. Twitter clearly hopes to gain new users in the world’s second-most populous country by taking advantage of the way people there use ZipDial on their phones to access everything from cricket scores, to tweets from movie starts to audio content, and more.
“We’re extremely impressed with what ZipDial has built and are delighted to welcome them to the flock. In India, our primary mission, which is bolstered by this acquisition, is to help every Indian with a mobile device enjoy a great, relevant Twitter experience. We believe Twitter – a platform invented for SMS and rich in media – is a perfect match for India, a mobile-first country with a celebrated media heritage.”
said Rishi Jaitly, Market Director, India and Southeast Asia, Twitter.
Today, people across India use ZipDial’s platform to access cricket scores, audio programming, Tweets from their favorite Bollywood stars – and much more – on their mobile phones. Leading figures, including actors, politicians and athletes, also use the platform to instantly reach millions of citizens on Twitter through text and voice messages. One of the main reason for the acquisition is to increase user engagement on Twitter, an area where the company is striving hard.