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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
UnWired Buyer Secures $6.1 Million in Series B Funding
AUSTIN, Texas, July 17 -- UnWired Buyer, Inc., a provider of real-time, interactive mobile notification and transaction services, today announced it secured $6.1 million in Series B funding. Gefinor Ventures led the round with participation from Accent Texas Fund I, LP, Aegis Texas Venture Fund, DFJ Mercuryand other investors. The funding will be used for product development, marketing and customer acquisition for UnWired Buyer's voice-based e-commerce platform.
"We believe that UnWired Buyer will be a significant player in the global market for mobile commerce, which is expected to grow to $10 billion by 2010," said Wes Cole, principal at Gefinor Ventures. "UnWired Buyer combines unique VoIP-based technology infrastructure with widely adopted mobile phone technology. The company's proven solution brings the power of mobile e-commerce to the mass market, allowing Internet retailers to reach new and existing customer segments -- truly anyone who carries a mobile phone. This investment demonstrates our confidence in the exciting mobile e-commerce market opportunity, the Unwired Buyer product and the team's ability to grow the business."
The company launched its initial wireless offering, UnWired Buyer for eBay, in September of last year. The mobile bidding solution enables eBay customers to wirelessly participate in the critical final minutes of an auction-style listing when over half of the bidding activity occurs. Last month at eBay Live!, an annual networking event attended by over 15,000 eBay community members, eBay introduced eBay Phone Alerts and announced that the mobile bidding solution would be powered by UnWired Buyer's mobile transaction technology. eBay Phone Alerts performs and has the same functionality as UnWired Buyer's mobile bidding solution and the two services will co-exist. Now, users can subscribe by opting in directly on the eBay website or at http://www.unwiredbuyer.com . UnWired Buyer will continue to deliver value to eBay, its buyers and its sellers, while also exploring new ways to help other Internet retailers to close more transactions on the mobile phone.
"Our solution can be used by merchants looking to move inventory faster by increasingly reaching mobile consumers and closing transactions when they are away from the PC," said Indraj (Indy) Gill, CEO of UnWired Buyer. "This round of investment will help increase the value we bring to the eBay community and continue to aggressively grow our user base."
About Accent Texas Fund I, LP
Accent Texas Fund I, LP is an Austin-based venture capital firm focused on investing in high-growth companies primarily throughout the State of Texas. With more than a combined 70+ years of operational, industry and investing experience, Accent seeks to provide its portfolio companies growth funding and operational guidance to help them build and grow successful ventures. http://www.accentcap.com
About Aegis Texas Venture Fund, LP
Aegis Texas Venture Fund, LP ("ATVF") focuses on investing in early to mid-stage companies located in the State of Texas. The ATVF investment approach is to identify emerging trends within various sectors and then to work directly with the entrepreneurs who have the desire, talent and determination to build their companies. Through these investments, ATVF supports local businesses and job creation. ATVF is an affiliate of Aegis Capital Group. For additional information, please visit http://www.aegiscapitalgroup.com .
About DFJ Mercury
DFJ Mercury is a Texas-based, seed and early stage venture capital fund. DFJ Mercury is part of the global intelligence network of Draper Fisher Jurvetson funds. These 16 affiliated funds have a combined 300 portfolio companies and $3.0 billion under management. For more information, please visit http://www.dfjmercury.com .
About Gefinor Ventures
Gefinor Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm providing capital, guidance, and strategic support to early stage companies with innovative products and services. With offices in Austin, Denver, and New York, Gefinor Ventures provides the presence and reach of a large organization with a focused entrepreneurial approach. http://www.gefinorventures.com
About UnWired Buyer, Inc.
UnWired Buyer provides an innovative voice-based commerce platform that delivers real-time, interactive mobile notification and transaction services directly into the consumer's hands anytime, anywhere. Since October, 2005, the service has delivered over 400,000 calls to eBay buyers, providing them the opportunity to remotely bid in the final minutes of an auction-style listing. The UnWired Buyer platform can be applied to any online retail environment to realize revenue faster by reaching the vast mobile phone user base and closing transactions via voice. The company is located in Austin, Texas and is a member of the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a business accelerator associated with the University of Texas at Austin. For more information, please visit http://www.unwiredbuyer.com .
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