One97 Communications acquires MobiVite to consolidate footing in mobile marketing space

BANGALORE: One97 Communications, a mobile internet services firm, has acquired mobile marketing platform MobiVite - owned by Delhi-based technology start-up Srishti TechNet - to gain a toehold in the mobile marketing space.

MobiVite's platform uses cloud computing technology to enable small businesses and marketing agencies create mobile websites and execute engaging mobile web campaigns. It was chosen in August by Google as a "key vendor" in the country as part of the search engine provider's push to attract small- and medium-businesses to its products.

"We want to be the dominating force of the mobile internet ecosystem. Bringing MobiVite allows us to accelerate our journey towards that purpose," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of One97, which delivers mobile content and advertising services to customers like Airtel, Vodafone, Coca-Cola, Nestle and General Motors. He declined to reveal the financial details of the deal. Srishti will, however, get royalties from One97 for revenues earned through MobiVite.

Srishti is the second venture of Sanjay Goel, co-founder and director, who after graduating from National Institute of Fashion Technology launched Ethnic India - one of the leading lifestyle fragrance companies in the country. After selling the business to competitor Ripple Fragrances, he launched Srishti, a value-added service firm focused on telecom operators. Industry experts said such deals will occur more often, as bigger firms prefer to concentrate on core competency and leverage technology of niche firms.