Mobile app platform biNu just announced that it has closed a $4.3 million Series A round of funding.
Back in August, the company said it had raised $2 million from Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures, along with the Savannah Fund, David Risher, and Paul Bassat. Now the company says that was just a partial close of the round, which has expanded by another $2.3 million, and now includes 500 Startups, Dick Parsons’ and Richard Lauder’s PanAfrican Invesmetment Co., CVC Capital Partners’ Adrian McKenzie, Australian economist Nicholas Gruen, and Lend Lease Ventures’ Anthony Pascoe.
biNu allows the owners of feature phones and lower-end smartphones to use apps like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. More recently, it has been adding a number of its own social features, such as the ability to follow other users and share photos with them. The company plans to use the new funding to continue expanding into emerging markets in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
It’s also announcing the launch of a new feature called biNu credits. Users earn those credits by performing activities like completing a profile, sharing content, or engaging with advertising. The credits allow users to send text messages to non-biNu members and download premium content.