BeatsMe wants to connect DJ's and party goers through mobile application

By Raphael Michilis

Social networking is quickly contaminating all segments of the current economy. More and more, success means popularity in the crammed cyber communities, and absence in those digital social spaces virtually means your product doesn’t exist, thus it doesn’t sell.

The music industry was one of the first to realize the social trend and sound waves flooded the now almost forgotten MySpace, with a countless number of artists setting up profiles and collecting followers.

Since then, singers and musicians have fought for a space in the internaut’s computer screen, but very few platforms dedicated to music have thrived and most of them left out a growing segment of music, the DJ’s.

Spotify has recently adapted its services to feature on Facebook updates, but it is still not dedicated to link the artists to their audience.

To build a bridge over this gap, the San Francisco-based startup BeatsMe Inc has initiated a Beta trial of its music social network mobile and web application.

The company aims to help DJ's promote their work and drive their audience up. On the other side of that bridge, BeatsMe promises to present new music to listeners bored of the sound they are used to.

The app lets DJs interact with their online audience as well as live and immediate connection with party goers at the club where they are palying.

Similar to Shazam app, BeatsMe identifies a song while it is being played and allows the audience to instantly buy the tune.

To raise capital and finance their idea, BeatsMe co-founder Joseph Brilliant is offering a batch of the company’s securities worth $1m for sales.

The “private offering” form was file today with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but did not have any buyer. The form is generally filed when the funding is concluded.

Alternative mobile wallets intimidate banks

By Raphael Michilis
Almost half of American consumers (48%) wish to use a mobile wallet and would consider alternative players for banking services, according to a study published on 4 June by financial researcher Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group (CG).

Peter Olynick, CG’s Card & Payments Practice leader, estimates that “within five years, half of today’s smart phone owners will be using their phones and mobile wallets as their preferred method for payments”, causing banks to loose market share in the future if they don’t act now.

“The competitive threat from new entrants is real. Consumers are open to considering alternatives to their primary banks to provide mobile wallets and even core banking services,” said Olynick.

“Banks need to proactively consider how their products will stay ‘top of wallet’ in the new mobile wallet world,” he said.

Among the mobile wallets enthusiastic consumers heard by the survey, 80% said they would choose PayPal as their m-wallet and primary bank alternative if it offered banking services.

Google would be the option for 60% of them. Other 60% of consumers interested in m-wallets would also consider using Apple as their banking services player and digital wallet, although the company does not offer such services.

Mobile wallets make an efficient way to trim down consumers’ credit card frustration with the volume of offers they receive, keeping track of payment due dates, and their inability to track terms and conditions for each of their cards, according to the study.

Minimizing interest payments, maximising loyalty programs and ability to make better payments were rated as the most valuable advantages of digital wallets services for 65% of consumers. Other consumers said they believe m-wallets make shopping easier, faster and more fun.

Combining these features in customized mobile wallets may help banks keeping customers satisfied and reducing market share loss, concludes the survey that heard 605 American consumers in April.

Children's e-wallet Virtual Piggy raises $ 8.5m in private fundings

By Raphael Michilis

US-based financial platform for children Virtual Piggy has pooled $8.5m with the selling of its stocks in few private funding rounds early last April and May.

The last transaction was registered at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 13 and the amount was confirmed by a Virtual Piggy spokesperson.

According to the notice filed at SEC, the capital comes from different investors including Fiordaliso LTD and FEQ Realty.

In the contracts signed with Virtual Piggy, the new shareholders acquired opening tranches of common stocks and agreed to buy future lots in monthly closings until November this year.

The company refused to say how the funding will change the company operations.

One of the SEC document reports that more than 70 investors took part in the funding rounds and each buyer purchased initial aggregates of around 150,000 common stock units.

Each unit was composed of two shares of Virtual Piggy’s common stock and a warrant to buy an extra share.

The units’ value ranged from $ 0.6125 to $0.80 and the shares were worth between £0.40 and $1.

The company refused to comment the matter, at least until next week.

Earlier this year, Virtual Piggy’s CEO and founder Jo Webber hailed the platform as the first payment system to allow children under 13 years of age make legal online purchases, with parents dictating the limits. 

Mobile users in Zimbabwe can borrow airtime from UK Lendme

Raphael Michilis 

UK-based and Africa-focused startup Lendme has kick-started its mobile airtime loan service in Zimbabwe. 

The platform permits subscribers to borrow credit worth up to $ 20 to top up their pay-as-you-go mobile account. Lendme promises not to charge users if the loan is paid back within seven days, and subscribers will not need to commit to a contract.  

“We don’t charge you a single cent! Just register, there are no strings attached,” the company says on its website.

The mobile credit can be paid back using a Lendme e-voucher, sold at over 500 merchants in Zimbabwe. The e-voucher denominations currently range from $ 0.25 to $ 5.00.

Lendme also plans to extend the offer of its e-voucher to lend money, so subscribers can borrow up to $ 100 to make payments on e-commerce.

  

Prior to the launch Lendme carried a user acceptance testing (beta testing) and Facebook campaign that distributed top-ups worth $10 to $ 50 to those who referred new subscribers.

“We recognise the inherent burdens airtime pre-payment inflicts on consumers hence, we have launched Lendme Airtime in Zimbabwe,” said Michael Charangwa, Lendme co-founder. 

Free gifts make number of Wrapp users expand 66% in two months

By Raphael MichilisWrapp, the Swedish social e-gifting start-up, has enjoyed a phenomenal April and May.

By the end of May, Wrapp had attracted nearly 250,000 users, an increase of 100,000 compared to the end of March.

In the past two months, Wrapp users gifted 700,000 digital vouchers to friends via Facebook; in the first quarter of 2012, total Wrapp gifts totalled 1m.

In the US, Wrapp has enjoyed early success. Since launching last November, the app has featured in the top 25 Apple iTunes chart in the social networking category.

Wrapp was founded in 2011 and has attracted investment of USD10.5m, including backing from Niklas Zennström, Skype co-founder.

At the time of joining the Wrapp board of directors last year, Zennström said in a statement:

“Wrapp is targeting a huge market by leveraging two mega-trends: social networks and smartphones.”

In addition to selling gift cards from major retailers, Wrapp permits the user to send digital vouchers to friends via Facebook for free.

Free gift cards are uploaded everyday to the application by partner retailers, helping to boost Wrapp popularity.

The social gifting craze is attractive to merchants as a marketing weapon, as it provides access to customer data that can be used in highly targeted advertising operations.

Wrapp’s marketing highlights that the merchant is also rewarded with a friend-to-friend automated advertising campaign, as “each gift card posted on a recipient’s Facebook timeline or wall is seen by about 80% of their friends.”

According to Wrapp, the associated brands’ average sales are worth around four to six times the value of the free vouchers they provide, helping Wrapp gain popularity among suppliers.

Wrapp has reportedly signed up around 70 major retailers in the US and Europe, with 20 signing up since the end of March.

Global expansion
Already up and running in the US, Norway Sweden and the UK, Wrapp has plans to expand into another a number of other countries including Brazil, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Turkey.

At the end of May, Wrapp kicked of its service in Finland and opened an office in Poland.

The buzz created by the launch of Wrapp has also attracted a competitor offering from a German-based start-up, DropGifts.

DropGrifts' service offers free vouchers and, like Wrapp, allows several users to contribute to a single gift.

The digital vouchers can be converted into meals at restaurants, gym and magazine subscriptions, clothing and many other products and can be redeemed online or in person at a partner retailer.

Wrapp’s coupon is purely digital and cannot be printed, so the receiver has to present a smart device at store to be redeemed. By contrast, the DropGift version can be printed or even posted to the recipient’s home address in a physical version.

Other gift cards apps include US-based FreebeeCards. It went live on 21 May and enables Iowa-based companies to offer free gifts, rewards and discounts in the form of vouchers that can be redeemed via a smartphone or printed.

The value of the first FreebeeCards ranged from USD 6 to USD 1000, exchangeable at Jasper Winery and Farrell’s eXtreme Body Shaping gym club.