Lumata Unveiled To Better Serve B2B Customer Needs In Global Mobile Marketing

Francisco Partners and Buongiorno backed business integrates existing Buongiorno B2B divisions and prepares for future growth

LONDON & MILAN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Leading private equity firm Francisco Partners and Buongiorno S.p.A. (FTSE Italy STAR: BNG), the global leader in the market of paid content on mobile today, announced the launch of Lumata, a newly formed company focused on serving the B2B market in the fast moving mobile marketing sector. Lumata combines Buongiorno’s fast-growing operator, brand and manufacturer focused businesses under one single brand. With strong private equity backing from Francisco Partners, Lumata is perfectly positioned to serve the rapidly growing needs of its global customers and is well placed to pursue growth.

Lumata will, from today, operate globally with 15 offices and more than 500 employees. Lumata already helps more than 100 customers including mobile operators, handset manufacturers, and blue-chip consumer brands take advantage of the opportunities that the mobile channel presents. Lumata, with the backing of Francisco Partners and Buongiorno, has a strong investment plan to focus on expanding the tools and services that its customers use to explore and seize new ways of interacting with their consumers.

Heading up Lumata, is former Clearwire executive and Match.com CEO Thomas Enraght-Moony, a proven business leader with a strong track record of growth and innovation in fast growing markets.

“Mobile marketing is the place to be – it’s how consumers prefer to interact with the companies that serve them” said Enraght-Moony. “Helping businesses with the challenges mobile presents is a big opportunity for an experienced team with the right financial backing. That’s Lumata.”

Matt Spetzler, Principal at Francisco Partners said, “Francisco Partners views the mobile marketing space as an exceptional opportunity for growth. We are committed to build on our initial investment in Lumata and to arm it with the resources needed to become a category leader. With Thomas we have a seasoned CEO with the vision, experience and determination to make Lumata a world-wide success.”

Concluding, Mauro Del Rio, founder and Chairman of Buongiorno and Board member of Lumata Group, said, “The Buongiorno B2B team has built a solid foundation. The combination of this team and Francisco Partners investment expertise makes this focused stand-alone company an incredibly exciting and logical next step in the businesses evolution. It will undoubtedly be the recipe for growth and success.”

-ENDS-

About Lumata

Lumata is a stand-alone company backed by Francisco Partners (70% holding) and Buongiorno S.p.A (30% holding) to provide a seamless link for operators, brands and hardware manufacturers to engage with their customers through the mobile channel. Lumata hits the ground running with a global footprint with 15 offices and more than 500 employees and annual revenues in excess of €50 million, Lumata’s client base includes: Orange, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia Mobile, Verizon, Airtel, MTS & Telefonica as well as blue chip brands such as Nestle, P&G, HP and Espresso Group.

For further information, please www.lumata.com

About Francisco Partners

Francisco Partners is a leading global private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. With approximately $7 billion of capital raised to date, Francisco Partners pursues structured investments in technology companies, targeting investments in private companies, public companies and divisions of public companies, with transaction values ranging from $25 million to over $500 million.

For further information, please visit www.franciscopartners.com.

About Buongiorno

Buongiorno is known in the worldwide mobile ecosystem for developing and managing paid apps and content that help consumers get greater enjoyment from mobile devices. With direct connections to more than 130 telecom operators in 25 countries, over 10 years experience and a team of 850 professionals, Buongiorno makes the mobile internet experience happen. In 2011, Buongiorno has undergone a refocusing change, materialized via the acquisition of Dada.net and the spin-off of the majority of its B2B business. Today Buongiorno concentrates exclusively on delivering a top notch mobile entertainment experience to end consumers and is investing heavily in the marketing of a few high-potential businesses, based on paid content on mobile. Furthermore Buongiorno is investing heavily in a few high-potential businesses, in the paid content and mobile payments solution area: Cashlog.com and eGaming portal Winga.com

Buongiorno is headquartered and listed in Milan, Italy.

For further information please visit: www.Buongiorno.com

About Thomas Enraght-Moony

Thomas Enraght-Moony joins Lumata as Chief Executive Officer. From 2009 until 2011 Thomas served as Head of Marketing at Clearwire, America’s first 4G mobile operator where he launched the company’s retail brand to over 90M consumers. Previously to Clearwire he served as CEO of Match.com – an IAC/Interactive portfolio company – growing the business to over USD 360M in revenues and record profitability. Prior to Match.com Thomas served Vice President for eCommerce at AT&T Wireless. Before AT&T Wireless Thomas held a number of product, marketing, and business development positions at E*TRADE. Thomas started his career as a software engineer at Accenture. Thomas received an MA (Hons) from Glasgow University, Scotland and an MBA from INSEAD, France. He lives in London, England with his two sons.

CONTACT:

For further Lumata media information, please contact:
MUSTARD PR
Andrew Durkin
M: + 44 (0) 7887 998407
E: Andrew@mustardpr.com
or
Dan Walsh
M: + 44 (0) 7827 816871
E: dan@mustardpr.com

KEYWORDS:   United Kingdom  Europe  Italy

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Technology  Telecommunications  Mobile/Wireless  Communications  Advertising  Marketing

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