2sms gains £450,000 backing

29/01/08 14:09

Mobile phone messaging service 2sms has received £450,000 of investment so it can take its established UK service into the US.

The company has been backed by The Capital Fund for £250,000 and serial investor Richard Goldstein has ploughed in a further £200,000 as well as joining 2sms’ board.

2sms is focused on providing messaging services to businesses that need to communicate with large audiences, such as entire workforces or clients.

The messages can be sent securely (fully encrypted) and quickly (less than five seconds) and has been developed to be compatible with any backend system, the company says.

Messages can be sent via a laptop the technology makes it cheaper than if the same task were attempted by a mobile phone.

Since it began in 2000, the Cranfield-based business has amassed 1500 customers mostly in the UK and including a number of FTSE 100 companies. However, US expansion now beckons and chief executive Tim King believes his business is now well placed to do this.

“We now have a fantastic opportunity further to consolidate our position here in the UK, and also to start developing a significant customer base in the US, working closely with a major leading distributor,” he said.

“The investment from The Capital Fund and Richard Goldstein has come at just the right time. We’ll be using the funds to grow our US operations, expand our sales support team and continue to upgrade our systems and servers to cope with the rapidly increasing traffic levels we’re experiencing.”

Benjamin Davis, investment manager at The Capital Fund, said: “2sms is a great example of a successful UK company that has a huge opportunity to build on this success in the US market.

“We’re delighted to have come on board at such an exciting time – 2sms has the right management team in place and an industry-leading product to sell.”

“It was a pleasure working with Benjamin Davis at The Capital Fund and Richard Goldstein. They both provided us with a great deal of advice and attention during the rigorous due diligence processes.”