Twitter's first ever acquisition in country, buys Indian startup ZipDial

New Delhi, Jan 20: Microblogging site Twitter has acquired Indian startup ZipDial, a mobile value added services company based out of Bangalore, a statement by Twitter said here Tuesday.

The statement added this is Twitter's first ever acquisition in India. However, the deal size has not been mentioned.

ZipDial has built a mobile platform that lets people follow and engage with content across all interfaces. The user experience combines SMS, voice, mobile web, and access to mobile apps to bridge users from offline to online.

ZipDial's platform has engaged nearly 60 million users with hundreds of marketer clients.

"In India, our primary mission, which is bolstered by this acquisition, is to help every Indian with a mobile device enjoy a great, relevant Twitter experience. We believe Twitter - a platform invented for SMS and rich in media - is a perfect match for India," Rishi Jaitly, market director, India and Southeast Asia, Twitter.

This acquisition significantly increases Twitter's investment in India, one of the countries where the company is seeing great growth, and also brings Twitter a new engineering office in Bangalore, the statement added.

Christian Oestlien, vice president of product, Twitter, said: "Over the next several years, billions of people will come online for the first time in countries like Brazil, India and Indonesia. For many, their first online experience will be on a mobile device - but the cost of data may prevent them from experiencing the true power of the internet. Twitter, in partnership with ZipDial, can make great content more accessible to everyone."

Valerie Wagoner, founder and chief executive officer, ZipDial, said that over half of the world's population live in emerging and newly developed markets, and these consumers use their mobile phones differently.

"We build for them. ZipDial's innovative platform has already scaled across South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, where we operate. We are thrilled to expand our impact to a global level with Twitter."

IANS