SMS GupShup Secures Funds

SMS GupShup, Indias largest social network, has closed a $12 million (7.4 million) funding round, led by Globespan Capital Partners, with additional financing from existing investors, Charles River Ventures and Helion Venture Partners.
Launched in April 2007, SMS GupShup now serves 26 million users in over 2 million SMS communities. These communities range from religious groups to sports teams to fan clubs of celebrities. Over 100 advertisers currently run on the network, including local insurance provider ICICI Lombard, as well as international brands such as Puma, Microsoft and Cadbury. A few thousand SMEs and several corporations are deploying GupShups mobile messaging solutions for their business needs.
The company is growing at a rapid pace and now accounts for 5% of all text messages sent in India. Earlier this year, the company signed a deal with Facebook to enable Indian Facebook users to go mobile.
According to Gartner, the mobile subscriber base is set to exceed 771 million in India and 4 billion globally by 2013. SMS GupShup says the funding will allow it to expand into new territories, and to roll out new features such as Mobile CRM solutions for small businesses and corporate brands.
Our user base and revenues have grown substantially over the last year and (we) are seeing strong interest from carriers worldwide, says Beerud Sheth, Co-founder and Chief Executive of SMS GupShups parent company, Beerud Sheth. We expect to use the proceeds from this funding round to accelerate our growth and expand our operations globally.
To date, SMS GupShup has raised $37million in funding and is aggressively hiring globally. In only the past two months the service has increased its team head count from 100 to 130 and the company says it is looking to fill another 20 positions in marketing, engineering and advertising sales.