BOKU Inc. is a global, mobile payments company headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with offices in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The company is a provider of direct mobile payment solutions, allowing consumers in 63 countries to make purchases online using their mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 number. The BOKU service works across more than 220 different mobile carriers. The service enables online payments for consumers worldwide, and has a presence in North

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. Boku launched in 2009 with the acquisition of both Paymo and Mobillcash businesses – two leading providers in the global mobile payments industry, as well as $13 million USD in investment from venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 firms.

Overview

BOKU mobile payments provide a mechanism for payments that are highly secured and simple to use. In addition, mobile payments enable unbanked

Unbanked

The unbanked are citizens of a country who do not have their own bank account. Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial services for their financial needs, where these are available.-The unbanked in the United States:...

 consumers who may have a mobile phone, but no credit card

Credit card

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

 or traditional bank account

Bank account

A Bank account is a financial account recording the financial transactions between the customer and the bank and the resulting financial position of the customer with the bank .-Account types:...

, to make purchases online.

The majority of transactions processed through BOKU involve digital and virtual goods and services, including social and free-to-play games, virtual goods, social network

Social network

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...

s and other online experiences. BOKU focuses on making the mobile phone number a viable payment option not only for virtual goods, but for digital goods (i.e. MP3's, eBooks, movies, etc.) and physical goods as well.

Partnerships

BOKU has established partnerships with hundreds of game publishers and online services. Many gaming companies enable BOKU's service, including Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...

, Playfish

Playfish

Playfish, currently a property of Electronic Arts, is a developer of free-to-play social network games. Playfish was founded in 2007 by Kristian Segerstråle, Sebastien de Halleux, Sami Lababidi and Shukri Shammas. In October 2008, they secured USD$17 million in venture capital funding from Accel...

, Playdom

Playdom

Playdom is an online social network game developer popular on Facebook and on MySpace; it is currently the largest social game developer on MySpace and one of the larger ones on Facebook. The company was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by University of California, Berkeley graduates Ling Xiao...

, Cie Studios, GameDuell

GameDuell

GameDuell is a game developer located in Berlin, Germany. The company develops games that are available on its own branded website, social networking sites such as Facebook, and mobile on Android, WebOS and iOS.- History :...

, Cyberstep Communications, IGG, King.com

King.com

King.com is an online skill-based games company. King.com is available in nine languages and in 10 countries. King.com is an international company with 85 employees and offices in London, Los Angeles, Rome, Hamburg and Stockholm.-Operations:...

, NHN USA, Ntreev, Outspark, Perfect World

Perfect World

Perfect World , is a 3D adventure and fantasy MMORPG with traditional Chinese settings. Players can take on various roles depending on choice of race and choice of class within that race....

, Aeria Games, Games-Master (Cabal Online

Cabal Online

Cabal Online is a free-to-play, 3D massively-multiplayer online role-playing game , developed by South Korean company ESTsoft. Different versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions...

), K2Networks/GamersFirst, Meez

Meez

Meez is a social network service based in San Francisco, CA....

, Three Rings

Three Rings

In Tolkien's legendarium, the Three Rings are magical artifacts forged by the Elves of Eregion. After the One Ring, they are the most powerful of the twenty Rings of Power....

 and WeeWorld

WeeWorld

WeeWorld is an avatar-based computer game, as well as a virtual world for 13+ year-olds. Users sign up for free and are given a WeeMee, which is an animated avatar that can be integrated onto WeeWorld partner sites and services like AOL, Microsoft and Turtles, A Weemee legend "Wzzy" quit :WeeWorld...

, among others.

Investment and finances

BOKU has raised more than $38M in venture capital funding from Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...

, Index Ventures

Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a venture capital investment firm based in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices in London, Jersey, and starting in 2011, Silcon Valley. The firm was founded in 1996 by Neil Rimer and Giuseppe Zocco. Since its inception, the firm has raised four main venture funds and a growth...

, Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on early stage companies in the Internet, computing, mobile, silicon technology and clean technology sectors....

, DAG Ventures

DAG Ventures

DAG Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. It is known as a "coattail" fund for co-investing in later-stage private financing rounds alongside more prominent top-tier venture funds such as Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Accel Venture...

, and Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company's headquarters is in Menlo Park, California.The venture capital fund was started in June 2009 with an initial capital of $300 million....

. The latest round of $25M was closed on January 19, 2010, and reported by VentureBeat

VentureBeat

VentureBeat is a technology blog that focuses on innovative companies and the forward-thinking executives behind them.-History:The company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall. In 2008, the New York Times called VentureBeat one of the "top blogs"...

.

Recognition and awards

In 2009, Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, Inc. is an American firm which provides market research & analysis, growth strategy consulting and corporate training services. Its headquarters are located in San Antonio, Texas, with offices in over 20 countries across the world....

 named BOKU for their Best Practices award.
In May 2010 the San Francisco Business Times named BOKU a top 25 Tech and Innovation award finalist.
In 2010, Mobile Trax awarded BOKU their Mobility Award.

External links

• http://www.boku.com BOKU Homepage
• http://blog.boku.com/ BOKU Corporate Blog
• http://www.crunchbase.com/company/boku class Crunchbase company profile
• http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/02/mobile-payments-startup-boku-launches-in-app-billing-library-for-android/ Mobile Payments Startup Boku Launches In-App Billing Library For Android - Techcrunch June 2, 2010
• http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/06/02/boku-and-zong-launch-mobile-payments-for-android-devices/ Boku and Zong launch mobile payments for Android devices - VentureBeat, June 2, 2010
• http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_10/b4169064668421.htm - Who Wants to Buy a Digital Elephant? Business Week, February 25, 2010
• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/technology/22pay.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=boku%20mobile&st=cse Investors Bet on Payments via Cellphone - NY Times, June 21, 2009
• http://feedroom.businessweek.com/index.jsp?auto_band=x&rf=sv&fr_story=f0733abd8ddb8ae064ec58d4593e92398f7096c0 BOKU Interview on Bloomberg TV - Bloomberg Business Week, January 29, 2010
• http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100726/the-boku-founders-talk-about-mobile-payments-competitors-and-more/ The Boku Founders Talk About Mobile Payments, Competitors and More! - WSJ, All Thing D, July 26, 2010
• http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100119/another-big-bet-on-mobile-payments-boku-raises-25-million/ Another Big Bet on Mobile Payments: Boku Raises $25 Million - WSJ, Media Memo, January 19, 2010
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_commerce_service_provider Mobile Commerce Service Provider