Fonix

Fonix
Type of business Private
Founded 2006 (2006)
Headquarters London, UK
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Will Neale, Rob Weisz
Key people Rob Weisz
(CEO), Marcus Kern
(CTO)
Website www.fonix.com
Current status Active

Fonix provides a mobile payments platform and is based in London. Its services are used by the media, entertainment, telecoms, enterprise and commerce sectors[1] and Fonix has connections to all of the UK mobile networks. When consumers make payments, they are charged to their mobile phone bill. This service can be used for ticketing, content, cash deposits and donations.[1]

The company was founded in 2006[2] and it has partnerships with Vodafone (of which it is a Platinum Partner),[3] EE Limited, Telefónica UK Limited and Hutchison 3G. Fonix's clients include tastecard, Sport Relief, Channel 5, Children in Need, DMG Media and others.

The current CEO is Rob Weisz.[4]

How it works

Fonix's service works by charging digital payments to the mobile phone bill, either via Carrier Billing or SMS Billing.[5]

Carrier billing

APIs are used to charge users to their phone bills through desktop, mobile or apps.[6]

Fonix's Carrier Billing services can be used for ticketing (e.g. parking tickets and cinema tickets), content (e.g. paying for film or magazines) and cash deposits.[1]

SMS billing

Fonix's API charges customers to their phone bills via SMS.[7] This means that customers can purchase services or make charitable donations and are charged by sending the text message.[8][9]

The service is most commonly used for digital purchases, such as content, donations, voting, competitions and polls.[10]

History

Fonix was originally named Orca Digital[11] and was founded in 2006 in Chiswick, London. Orca Digital focused upon mobile telephony and providing interactive services to the media and entertainment sectors.[12]

In 2014, Orca Digital relaunched as Fonix Mobile under CEO Rob Weisz. At this point, the business became focused upon mobile operator payments and mobile messaging services to a range of sectors including media, charity, telecoms, enterprise, gaming and entertainment.[13]

Since 2014, Fonix has secured contracts with Channel 5,[14] Sport Relief,[15] Children in Need[16] and tastecard.[17]

In 2015 and 2016, Fonix was listed in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track, ranking 34th and 28th respectively.[1] In 2015 and 2016, Fonix ranked 50th and 37th in the Deloitte Fast 50 respectively.[18][19] In 2015 and 2016, Fonix ranked 363rd and 238th respectively in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500.[20][21] In 2016 and 2017, Fonix won the Moma Award for the Not for Profit/Charity Mobile Strategy/Campaign of the year. This was to recognise their use of SMS for collecting gift aid for the 2015 Children in Need Campaign.[22]

In the last 12 months, Fonix has handled in excess of £95m of consumer payments and processes 400,000+ transactions daily.[1]

Zensend

Zensend is a Fonix product which provides an SMS API that can be built into apps.[23] This can be used by companies to communicate via text message with their stakeholders.[24]

Its clients include Revolut,[25] Nectar and Daily Mail Group.[26]

Most recently in September 2016, Zensend partnered with Powwownow, who provide a conference call service. This partnership means that Powwownow cutomers can use Zensend's SMS function to notify staff for calls, arrange management meetings or provide company updates to employees' mobile devices.[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Skeldon, Paul. "Fonix and Impulsepay fly the flag for carrier billing in Tech Track 100". Telemedia Online. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. ↑ n/a. "Tech Track 100". Fast Track. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  3. ↑ n/a. "Accredited Partners". Vodafone. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Fonix: Tech Track 100". Fast Track. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  5. ↑ PYMNTS. "Fonix To Handle BuyGameCredit Purchases On Xbox Live, PlayStation". PYMNTS. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  6. ↑ n/a. "Fonix: Tech Track 100". Fast Track. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Alert Logic Product Marketing Team. "Fonix Mobile - Mobile and billing system security in Amazon Web Services (aws)". Alert Logic. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  8. ↑ Skeldon, Paul. "BBC Children in Need breaks all time text to donate record with Fonix". Telemedia Online. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  9. ↑ Skeldon, Paul. "Heart Radio embraces mobile listeners whos heart voice shortcodes - volume increase dramatically". Telemedia Online. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  10. ↑ Liggero, Rebecca. "Rob Weisz on introducing mobile payments in the online gambling industry". Calvin Ayre. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  11. ↑ Orca Digital
  12. ↑ n/a. "Orca Digital launches VoiPay – a new premium web telephony platform". My News Desk. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  13. ↑ n/a. "Tech Track 100". Fast Track. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  14. ↑ n/a. "CHANNEL 5 SELECT FONIX FOR TWO YEAR AGREEMENT FOR ALL MOBILE INTERACTIVE SERVICES". aime. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  15. ↑ n/a. "Sport Relief Legal". Sport Relief. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  16. ↑ "ViewRanger keeps The One Show Rickshaw Challenge riders on track". Cambridge Network. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  17. ↑ "Awards Preview – Most Effective Mobile Payment Solution". Mobile Marketing. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  18. ↑ Skeldon, Paul. "Fonix ranks 50th in the 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 2015 after two years of trading". Telemedia Online. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  19. ↑ "Fast 50 Winners 2016". Deloitte. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  20. ↑ "2015 Technology Fast 500TM Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) Ranking" (PDF). Deloitte. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  21. ↑ "Fast 500 WInners". Deloitte. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  22. ↑ "Momas 2016". Momas. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  23. ↑ "Zensend: Send and receive SMS worldwide". Techday. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  24. ↑ Skeldon, Paul. "Fonix launches self-serve mobile messaging platform". Telemedia Online. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  25. ↑ Techday. "Zensend: Send and receive SMS worldwide". Techday. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  26. ↑ Lonergan, Kevin. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves: Facebook will not be ushering in the chat bot revolution just yet". Information Age.
  27. ↑ Zensend. "Powwownow selects Zensend to offer SMS to enterprise customers". Total Telecom. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
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