Mobile entertainment firm Neomobile, backed by private equity funds BlueGem and MPS Venture, has announced the acquisition of Zero9, which specializes in dating and community services.

Zero9 is an Italian company with a subsidiary in Brazil that has established itself as a leading provider of mobile dating services, with 2.5m users in the country. The company also develops platforms for selling content such as games, images, videos and information services. It is a white-label partner of Yahoo! In Brazil.

Neomobile offers D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) and B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer) services, as well as mobile marketing and mobile payment services, in Europe, Latin America and India. The company says it will “far exceed” its goal of achieving €100m (£82m) in sales in 2010.

“This acquisition marks another fundamental milestone in the history of Neomobile,” says Neomobile CEO, Gianluca DAgostino. “The Zero9 deal is part of a strategy of continuous international expansion, directed in 2010 mainly towards the major S. American markets. Leadership in Brazil will allow us to exploit the partnership with mobile operators and local media, and to play a key role in the path of ongoing consolidation in our market, both locally and globally.”