Nokia, the world's top cell phone maker, has made a large investment in Obopay, a startup that wants to make the mobile phone the credit card of the developing world.
Redwood City, Calif.-based Obopay is available in the U.S. and India. The company lets people pay each other through text messages or other cell phone applications. The funds can come out of bank accounts or credit cards and people who lack bank accounts can prepay funds into a Obopay account.
"There's such a big gap in the world -- there are 4 billion phones and only 1 billion bank accounts," said Carol Realini, Chief Executive of Obopay.
The Finnish cell phone maker's investment in Obopay was not disclosed, but the startup made a regulatory filing this month for the sale of up to $70 million in preferred stock.
The filing also noted that Nokia's head of corporate business development, Teppo Paavolo, will get a seat on Obopay's board.
Mobile banking services are expected to match those of online retail banking and eventually go beyond that with technologies like near-field communications (NFC), which enables payments by just waving a phone.
There are several competing mobile payment systems, including eBay's PayPal Mobile.
Nokia has been building transponders into some phones that allow them to be swiped over payment terminals, but this marked the first time Nokia was investing in a service like Obopay's.
The investment will help Obopay speed its global expansion and invest more in its technology. Obopay had previously raised $69 million, with most of that from venture capital firms. Qualcomm, the developer of wireless technology, led a $7 million round in 2006.
