Mail.com invests in BulletIN.net

Following a recent partnership with BulletIN.net to deliver wireless e-mail access to Mail.com's customers in the United Kingdom (see Partnership gives Mail.com UK users wireless angle), Mail.com has made a strategic equity investment in BulletIN.net through an equity exchange.

Through the existing relationship with Vodafone, BulletIN has about 100,000 provisioned subscribers in the UK. The deal between BulletIN.net, Vodafone, and Mail.com calls for Mail.com to drive an additional 200,000 of its e-mail customers to use BulletIN's service.

Mail.com has invested $2.5 million of its stock in BulletIN.net and holds warrants to invest an additional $2.5 million. The two companies plan to explore further opportunities to develop wireless access solutions for the 17 million e-mailboxes and nine thousand businesses served worldwide by Mail.com.

According to BulletIN.net president Marlin Nelson, the investment reaffirms Mail.com's commitment to its technology, and the two companies plan to continue to find ways to give Mail.com users untethered access to their e-mailboxes in other locales around the world. The next targeted markets include South Africa and Australia.

BulletIN.net's technology allows standard Internet e-mail messages to be filtered, sent to, and accessed via mobile phones using the wireless short message service (SMS) capability. When the new combined service goes live in the UK, Mail.com users will be able to forward some or all of their e-mail messages—divided into 160-character SMS messages—to their mobile phones.

In May, BulletIN.net secured a $15 million first round of funding through a partial buy-out by Milford Investment Partners. The company is now beginning its push for second round funding, expected to be in the $26 million to $30 million range. The company has engaged with H.C. Wainwright as its investment banker for this process.

Edited by Ellen Jensen
Managing Editor, Wireless Networks Online