Bubbly (social network)

Bubbly is a social voice service working across feature phones and smartphones. For feature phones, users can record their voice by dialling a short code and speaking, as well as listen to popular posts. Subscribers get a text with the short code number for dialling into Bubbly's servers to have the voice message play back. To cater to smartphone users, Bubbly was made available on iOS and Android platforms in April 2012.

Bubbly
Developer(s)Bubbly (formerly Bubble in Motion)
Stable release
4.3.15 (Android)
4.2.4 (iOS) / March 5, 2016
Operating systemAndroid, iOS
TypeSocial networking service
Websitebubbly.net

History

Bubbly is developed by the Singapore-based start-up previously known as Bubble Motion, which was founded by Sunil Coushik in 2005.[1][2] The company has since changed its name to Bubbly.[3]

In 2006, the company raised $10 million in its Series A from Sequoia Capital US and India. In 2008, they received $14 million in Series B funding from Sequoia Capital, Comcast Ventures and North Gate Capital.

In 2010, total subscribers on Bubbly surpassed 2 million.[4]

The most recent Series E funding in 2012 took the company's total funding to $50 million from a range of backers including JAFCO Asia, SingTel Innov8, Infocomm Investments and Palomar Ventures.[5]

Bubbly exceeded 25 million users in February 2013.

In July 2013, Bubbly announced having a user base of over 30 million subscribers.[6]

The investors decided to liquidate the company in August 2014,[7] but it was instead acquired by Altruist later that month.[8]

Forbes listed it as one of the 15 most successful social networks to watch in 2015.[9]

Features

Bubbly is a social voice platform that allows users to create their own voice blog in 90 seconds and subscribe to celebrities. The latest release of Bubbly app on iOS and Android enables users to apply voice filters, effects, and background music to their voice posts. Users may also add photograph and text up to 140 characters, and share their post to other social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook. Bubbly has a payment engine that lets users on all of its platforms use carrier billing for Bubbly's premium products and services, which include subscriptions and in-app purchases. Bubbly also has a platform that lets users share voice messages on featurephones, smartphones, and its website, called Bubbly360.[10]

Noteworthy

In January 2013, English footballer Rio Ferdinand joined Bubbly.[11]

References
  1. Coushik, Sunil (2006). "Bubble Motion eyes deals for talking SMSs". No. September 21. Business Standard Ltd.
  2. Coushik, Sunil (2014). "Serial entrepreneur's tale of drive and perseverance". No. Jan 1. The Times Group.
  3. Ho, Victoria. "Bubble Motion Rebrands As Bubbly, Retires Old Voice Messaging For Good". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  4. Rao, Leena. "Bubble Motion's Voice Blogging Service Reaches 1.2 Million Paid Subscribers In India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  5. Yap, Jacky. "Bubble Motion receives additional US$5M from Japan's Largest VC, JAFCO, to continue rapid global expansion". e27. e27. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. Wee, Willis. "Social Voice App Bubbly Hits 30 Million Users". Tech In Asia. Tech In Asia. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  7. Lee, Terence. "Singapore startup Bubbly is liquidating". Tech In Asia. Tech In Asia. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  8. Shu, Catherine. "Voice-Based Social Media Platform Bubbly Acquired By Altruist Group". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  9. "15 Social Media Companies To Watch In 2015". Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  10. Shu, Catherine. "Sequoia-Backed Bubbly Launches A Third-Party Payment Engine For App Users Without Credit Cards". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  11. McLaren, Dan. "20m strong voice-blogging service Bubbly launches in UK with Rio Ferdinand". UKSN – The Social Media & Sport Site. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
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