Boku's New Investment Will Fuel Carrier Billing in Developed Countries

Fresh off of a series of partnership deals to extend carrier billing in Europe, Boku has attracted an additional $13.7 million in venture funding to back the San Francisco company's global ambition.

Existing investors including Khosla Venture, Benchmark Capital, NEA, Index Ventures and DAG Ventures participated in the new round, bringing Boku's total to $91 million since its launch in 2009.

Consumers use carrier billing to pay for web purchases through mobile airtime bills. Its early traction was in developing markets, but carrier billing has gained some traction in developed markets as a bank card alternative.

SCVNGR's LevelUp partnered with carrier billing company Danal to extend carrier billing to physical stores. Google has supported carrier billing for apps, and Samsung was also an early adopter for app store purchases.

Boku has won carrier billing deals with Sony for Playstation Store payments, and has attracted parking garage operators to the card alternative.

More recently, Boku has collaborated with Google to extend carrier billing to Lithuania and partnered with Microsoft to grow in the U.K. and Italy. The San Francisco-based Boku also partnered with Spotify to enable digital music purchases.