Mobile marketing pioneer Flytxt has put the agency side of its business up for sale. The company, which was one of the first to provide outsourced  mobile marketing campaign services, is splitting out and selling the agency side of the business, while retaining the technology part. In effect, Flytxt is changing from a mobile agency to a software company. It will continue to trade under the Flytxt brand name.
Mobile Marketing Magazine understands that Flytxts competitors received an Information Memorandum yesterday from investment bank, Agnitio Capital, which is handling the sale.
Mobile Marketing Magazine spoke to Incentivated Chairman Ron Clark, who could not confirm that he had received the Memorandum, but said:
If it is true, it seems like a ridiculous time to sell, just as this sector is getting very exciting. We wont be bidding, but we would like to hear from their staff.
And Incentivated Managing director Jonathan Bass told us:
If it is true, I feel hugely sorry for them. Flytxt were the reason I got into this business in 2000 after seeing a presentation from them, and for a long time, they and 12snap had the market to themselves, but in recent years, they seem to have lost their way.
A spokesperson for Flytxt confirmed the proposed sale to Mobile Marketing Magazine, saying:
We are selling the agency assets, as we are now focused on the technology side of the business. We will be retaining the Flytxt brand name.
Over the past 12 months, Flytxt has been developing a new mobile marketing platform called Neon, which launches today. The platform goes under the strapline Usable Mobile Marketing and in effect enables advertisers to run mobile campaigns from their desktop, accessing the software via the web, rather than outsourcing the work to an agency, which is how Flytxt has previously made its mobile platform available.
Flytxt VicePresident for Client Services, Adhish Kulkarni, gave Mobile Marketing Mag an exclusive demo of the new platform last week, under embargo until today. At that time, Kulkarni made it clear that the companys long-term future lay in developing the mobile software platform, but said that Flytxt would continue to provide agency-type services on an outsourced basis for those clients who did not want to drive the software themselves. Clearly, something has changed since then.