Fonix to power mobile donations for The Prince’s Trust Awards on ITV

Fonix logo in blue

 

Today, Fonix announced that it will be providing the text donation mechanic for The Prince’s Trust Awards. SMS will feature on the awards for the first time in its history. Hosted by Ant & Dec, The Prince’s Trust Awards will air today on ITV.

The Awards recognise young people who have succeeded against all the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.

Fonix will be working with The Prince’s Trust and ITV to provide a text-to-donate platform, enabling donors to send a text message to donate either £10, £20, £30 or £40, all charged to their mobile phone bills.

The Prince’s Trust helps young people from disadvantaged communities to get their lives back on track by giving them the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn. Founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1976, the charity supports 11 to 30-year-olds across the UK who are unemployed, those struggling at school or at risk of exclusion. Since its inception The Trust has supported more than one million young people in the UK.

Clare Charles, Head of Client Management, said: “At Fonix, we have seen the huge impact of text donations across televised campaigns and are delighted that this will feature on The Prince’s Trust Awards show. We’re looking forward to seeing the results and the difference it makes to help support young people.”

Jessica Mitchell, Individual Supporters Manager for The Princes Trust, said: “Each year, The Prince’s Trust Awards allows us to celebrate the achievements and admire the resilience of young people across the UK and internationally. Incorporating fundraising into the show for the very first time is a natural and exciting addition for us. Fonix’s experience within the charity sector and continued success with text-to-donate made the partnership an exciting prospect.”

ClearCourse acquires mobile marketing services provider Cymba

ClearCourse Partnership a group of innovative technology companies providing useful, integrated software solutions, announces a deal to acquire Cymba, a provider of mobile marketing solutions to businesses and charities. The acquisition strengthens ClearCourse’s not-for-profit and online payments offering and sees the Company joining the Group’s Business Services division.

Founded in 2004, Cymba provides solutions to help leading charities as well as big-name brands connect with their audiences through mobile marketing. The Company offers its clients a wide range of services such as mobile messaging, competitions and mobile donations for the charity sector. As part of the Group, Cymba will benefit from integration with ClearCourse’s proprietary payments platform, ClearAccept, and synergies with other brands within the Group’s charities offering.

Based in London, Cymba’s focussed team of experts services charities and global brands that are recognisable all over the world. The team offers leading systems and bespoke advice, using their extensive industry knowledge to help clients including UNICEF, the RSPCA, Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the Royal British Legion as well as Coca-Cola drive their mobile marketing campaigns.

Gerry Gualtieri, CEO of ClearCourse, commented: “We are excited to announce our acquisition of Cymba whose team brings a great deal of industry expertise as well as impressive clients to the ClearCourse Group. The deal represents ClearCourse’s 10th acquisition in the charity and not-for-profit market and provides further opportunity for collaboration and knowledge sharing across our growing [Business Services] division.

Nevil Coleman, Managing Director of Cymba, said: “Joining the ClearCourse Group is a great opportunity for Cymba, and we’re looking forward to working with Gerry and the rest of the team. The expertise and systems that we’ll benefit from, such as ClearCourse’s payments platform ClearAccept, will help power the next phase of Cymba’s growth and development. We’re very pleased to help expand ClearCourse’s footprint in the charities space, and we can’t wait to start collaborating with businesses across the Group.”

 

Fonix announces half year report

Fonix, the mobile payment and messaging specialist, which was admitted to AIM on London’s Stock Exchange in October 2020, is pleased to release its half year results.

Fonix’s CEO, Rob Weisz stated, “We’re really excited about publishing our interim report which highlights the great start we have had to life as a publicly listed company”

The company was established in 2006 and has embraced the growing needs of the mobile payments and messaging landscape. Fonix will continue to focus on providing high quality products and supporting clients across its core operating sectors including media, broadcast, charity and gaming.

Rob Weisz added, “We’re really proud to be working with many high-profile brands such as ITV, Global, Bauer Media and BBC Children in Need and we look forward to expanding on this and driving the business forward in 2021.”

View Fonix’s full Interim Report here.

Fonix announces intention to float on AIM

Fonix Mobile plc (“Fonix”), the UK focused mobile payments and messaging company enabling businesses to charge users’ mobile bills and send users SMSs via their Carrier today announces that it has undertaken a secondary placing and sought admission of its entire issued ordinary share capital to trading on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s growth market.

Founded in 2006, Fonix allows mobile network operators to provide additional services in the form of Carrier Billing, SMS Billing, Messaging and Voice Shortcodes. Fonix has over 100 Clients including ITV, Bauer Media, BT, Global and BBC Children in Need across a range of multi-billion pound sectors such as media, gaming, charity, ticketing and digital services.  

The company will be admitted to trading on AIM at 8.00am on Monday 12th October 2020.

Rob Weisz, Chief Executive of Fonix Mobile plc commented:

“We are delighted to announce the proposed Admission to AIM of Fonix. Admission to AIM will help raise the profile of the Company as we look to deliver on our growth ambitions.

We continue to deliver on our growth strategy by supporting our clients to drive transactions that occur on the platform and expanding on the content and services provided from both existing and new Clients.

We would like to thank our existing shareholders for their ongoing support and welcome our new shareholders at this exciting time for the Company

We would also like to thank all of our staff and partners who have supported the business over the last few years. This is a really exciting step for the business which will further our ability to provide high quality products and support to our partners.”

The Big Night In Appeal raised more than £10.3m via mobile donations

Fonix has announced today that more than £10.3m has been processed in mobile donations for The Big Night In Appeal.

The three-hour show took place on 23rd April and saw BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief join forces for the first time. The £10.3m processed through text donations helped contribute to the £27.3m raised on the night of the Appeal. Funds raised will be split equally between BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief and will go on to support vital local charities and projects in the UK who are providing essential help to those most in need.

The show promoted text-to-donate, allowing donors to donate via text at a range of price points: £5, £10, £20 and £30. Three competitions were also promoted on the night including the David Walliams prize draw, Little Mix prize draw and a chance to win a Morgan car. The Morgan prize draw was the top competition for the night and was sourced by Fonix.

Donations for the competitions were charged to the entrants mobile phone bill. Using Fonix’s delayed donation technology entrants had the choice to opt-out without being charged within 60 minutes of entering.

Clare Charles, Director of Media and Charity at Fonix, said: “It’s been such an honor to work with Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need for this great cause. It’s also amazing to see the impact of running competitions – the money donated was rather astonishing!”

Kerry Howard, Head of Operations Appeal for BBC Children in Need, said: We’re so thankful to Fonix for enabling mobile donations so quickly and to the generous public whose donations will go on to make such a difference. A huge amount of money has been raised to help projects around the country that are doing vital work to support people throughout the pandemic.”

Jules Thorne, Campaign Co-director at Comic Relief, said: “Thanks to Fonix’s support and the enormous generosity of the public, both our charities will now make sure that this desperately needed funding supports vulnerable people, as quickly and efficiently as possible.”