Zoove today announced that it’s raised a new $5M round of funding for its “StarStar Codes,” an alternative to SMS calls-to-action.

The new round of funding came from Rogers Ventures and will be used to strengthen its US operations, according to the company.  The startup is the exclusive provider of StarStar codes (e.g. **NFL) for the four largest mobile operators in the United States, reaching over 250 million consumers.  StarStar codes were designed to let consumers directly engage with a brand’s advertising in the same way you would with a text-in campaign, without the fees associated with SMS.

Continue Reading

The following is the weekly guest series by Derek Johnson, Founder & CEO of SMS marketing provider Tatango. You can text him at (206) 334-4012 or email him at derek@tatango.com.

There’s been a lot of noise lately in the mobile marketing industry about long codes, some are even questioning if these will be the death of short codes. I’m still bearish on long codes as the carriers have yet to come out publicly and give their approval for long code A2P (application to person) messaging. This post though isn’t about long codes being approved or not approved by the carriers, or even if long codes are a good substitute for short codes. This post is about why I feel text message spammers are on the verge of a mass exodus away from short codes to long codes.

Continue Reading