Handmade Mobile operates Flirtomatic, Europe’s leading flirting service for people connected to the Internet either via PC or mobile phone. The service allows registered members to discover new people on the basis of the preferences, interests, location and other information stored in their profile, to chat with other users, send rapid messages with graphics and photos, to rate other members and find user generated editorial content on matters of flirting and dating.

Flirtomatic appeals to a generation of young adults (70% of its users are 18-24) that has grown up with instant messaging (IM) and SMS on mobile phones and expects to be entertained through digital media – on both their phones and their PCs. Consumer adoption of the service has been strong since the end of the beta / prototype period in May 2006; over 445,000 registered users by August 2007 sending 3 million online messages to each other per week (up from 150,000 message per week in May 2006) and generating ~120 million page impressions. The users of the wap based mobile service view an average of 34 pages per session, generating ~100m mobile impressions per month. The US market now accounts for 10% of web traffic, with negligible marketing investment.

The management team has a strong track record in the digital media and mobile entertainment sectors. The company chairman Avi Azulai, founded iTouch, one of Europe’s leading mobile entertainment businesses that listed on the LSE and was sold in June 2005 for £180m. The CEO, Mark Curtis, was formerly the global EVP for Razorfish responsible for 1,500 staff and a co-founder of Fjord, building mobile products for Nokia & Orange.

The company’s proprietary multimedia interaction platform provides for an addictive consumer entertainment proposition that sits between the popular social networking and online dating services and the lucrative mobile service and content market. None of the social networks or online sites, however, are optimised for flirting with a number of surveys of the users of such sites highlighting the demand for less serious flirting offerings. Moreover there is a distinct lack of true cross platform services, which are increasingly being demanded by the target audience.

Handmade Mobile believes its offering is one of the most advanced online and mobile entertainment services available in Europe today, and that the company is capitalising on the demand from a new generation of digitally literate consumers who are looking for entertainment, light interaction and user generated content as opposed to the perceived seriousness of “dating” or connecting with existing friends.

The company generates revenues from online advertising and value added services paid for by wap payfor it, premium SMS and card payments.