As part of the deal, Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy will now be on Jana’s board of directors. VivaKi's chief strategy and innovation officer Rishad Tobaccowala will also be on Jana’s board. Tobaccowala is responsible for introducing Jana across all Publicis Groupe agencies to drive adoption and scale.
Levy said the mobile rewards platform is the “next big thing in the communication industry”, with consumers in certain markets spending 10 per cent of their daily income on mobile airtime, even as global advertisers are spending about $150 billion to reach them through traditional advertising channels.
“With its platform, Jana is changing the face of advertising by enabling us to invest in targeted, mobile-based campaigns that put advertising dollars directly into the pockets of the 'next billion' consumers our clients are most eager to reach,” Levy said.
Jana rewards consumers with airtime for viewing mobile ads, filling out surveys, referrals and purchasing products. So far, Jana has been integrated into the billing systems of 237 mobile operators. In Indonesia, these include major players like Telkomsel, Flexi and Indosat. In India, leading telcos including BSNL, Airtel, Idea and Vodafone have integrated Jana.
With this latest round of investment, Jana’s total capital stands at $25 million from investors including Spark Capital, NEA, AOL/News Corp, Akamai and Esther Dyson.
Jana's client list also includes CNN, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Unilever, P&G, Danone, Google and General Mills.