Vibes Media Acquires Mobile Advertising Startup Zeep Mobile

Vibes Media, a company that creates text message marketing campaigns, has acquired self-service mobile advertising startup Zeep Mobile. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Zeep Mobile provides a free API that allows any website and publishers to send and receive text messages to and from its visitors. There are no volume restrictions on sending messages and the service is free to use.

Vibes Media creates mobile marketing campaigns via SMS for clients. The Chicago-based company, which raised $15 million in funding from Fidelity Ventures, is one of the largest licensors of short codes in the United States. Vibes’ customer bases includes CBS, Tribune, Best Buy, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, Accuweather and Gray Television. Zeep Mobile’s technology will be folded into Vibes’ platform.

Jack Philbin, CEO and founder of Vibes Media, tells me the company has grown by 300 percent over the past year. He says that text message campaigns are interactive, and lead to success because the campaigns are a two way experience that can be used by any phone, even non-smartphones. We recently wrote about Placecast, a mobile marketing company that is using SMS technology to help retailers attract customers.

Crunchbase

• VIBES MEDIA
• ZEEP MOBILE

Company: Vibes Media

Website: vibes.com

Launch Date: 1998

Funding: $15M

About Vibes Co-founders Jack Philbin and Alex Campbell started Vibes in 1998 when you couldn’t even send a text message in the U.S. We have been pioneering the mobile marketing industry ever since. Over the past three years, Vibes has grown from 25 employees to more than 90 marketing strategists, technologists, developers, and support staff in order to attack the rapidly growing demand for mobile marketing and mobile CRM. Today, Vibes continues to lead the way with innovations like Catapult, our...

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Company: Zeep Mobile

Website: zeepmobile.com

Launch Date: August 1, 2008

Zeep Mobile is a young mobile technology company looking to empower developers in the new mobile internet. Zeep Mobile provides a free API that allows any website to send and receive text messages (SMS) to and from its’ users. There are no volume restrictions on sending messages and the service is absolutely free to use - there is no cost to developers and users pay only their regular SMS rates.

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