VentureBeat

Twitter isn’t the only company trying to build a big business off short messages. For text messages, or SMS, delivered via mobile phone, there’s Mozes, which says it’s ready to take the leading position in a growing marketing and communication business, and now has an $11.5 million funding (unearthed by peHUB ) to back up its claim.

Mozes is based off a simple idea, one that has barely changed since the company took seed funding two years ago. A mobile phone user sends a text message to MOZES (66937) involving the name of the person or entity they want information about. They get a response by text or voicemail, which will usually involve the option to sign up for further notifications. Mozes has applied this idea mainly to bands, who often tell their fans to send texts during concerts, while competitors like TextMarks and Waterfall Mobile have reached out to other audiences.

We’ve tracked Mozes’ progress over time, and it has been encouraging. By February of last year, it had raised $5 million and signed up 500 bands. It’s now got 4,000 bands, according to CEO Dorrian Porter, and sends out 10,000 to 190,000 messages per day. Almost 1.5 million unique phone numbers have messaged Mozes since it launched, and over 40 percent of its first-time users opt in for ongoing communications, which suggests over half a million “users” (assuming they don’t turn around and opt out).

But those numbers are just a start, says Porter. “Mobile marketing is going to be a huge opportunity, if you can believe that the world in the future will be centered around the mobile phone,” he told me earlier today. That means going after audiences other than musicians. Mozes has long been usable by small customers who sign up, but starting this summer, it will be turning its efforts to other defined markets, starting with sports and entertainment.

Signing up big customers is important, because Mozes makes its money primarily from charging its business users — people receiving the texts are charged only by their phone companies. Retailers and big brands are also on the roster, with one “major retailer” already testing out the service. Marketers have yet to fully grasp the concept, but mobile messaging likely has plenty of uses, like sending out information about sales in local stores.

Noise from competitors has always been a problem in Mozes’ space, because once you have a simple idea, it’s easy for others to try to copy. But as time goes on, Porter sees that being less of a problem than in the company’s early days. “We think we can take the music beach-head and use a scalable platform to reach further,’ he says. “We’ll build momentum and critical mass to show how the service is solving a real problem, and at that point, it becomes difficult for others to come in and expand as quickly as we can.”

The $11.5 million funding was led by Maveron, with participation from previous investors Norwest Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. Mozes, based in Palo Alto, Calif., has taken $16.5 million to date.

Mozes, the Palo Alto company that lets you text-message music bands for information like concert details, venue changes and promotions, had raised $5 million in a first round of venture capital funding.

Mozes’ mission is straightforward, but difficult to carry out. It wants becomes the one place you send messages to for information about your favorite band. All you do is send a message to M-o-z-e-s (or 66937 on your mobile dialpad), and then type in the name of the band in message (careful, sometimes the band will have initials). Mozes’ service then lets the band respond with its own message. It is popular at concerts.

Mozes’ Dorrian Porter says he’s signed up 500 bands and 15 labels, up from 25 bands and two labels last year when we talked with him. He says the model makes sense because bands need to cut through the noise created by the scores of other emerging mobile marketing methods.

For bands, the service is free. Eventually, Mozes wants to expand its services to businesses beyond music. For companies that want to use the Mozes service for profit, Mozes will charge (Wal-Mart would pay, for example, for use of the word “Wal-Mart” in the initial sign-up message). Mozes may also seek to make money from album or ringtone sales.

The funding comes from Norwest Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. We wrote about Mozes last year, when they first raised angel funding.

Noise there is. A number of mobile marketing players are doing similar things. There’s TextMarks, of San Francisco, which does something very similar, using its own “code 41411.” It lets bloggers communicate with their readers. It also lets them update their blogs while on the road. However it doesn’t focus on bands. Other mobile texting marketing companies include Waterfall Mobile, also of San Francisco, and Qtags, of Houston, Tex. One big player in the mobile entertainment marketing area that offers text messaging is Motricty, of Durham, NC.

Paul Santinelli, partner at North Bridge said he’s betting on Mozes because of the company’s narrow focus. The music fan demographic correlates strongly with the 15 to 25-year-old crowd, which is the most attractive group for large mobile marketers such as Nike, Reebok and others.

Porter wouldn’t say how many users have messaged with the system. He said the company is getting revenue, but isn’t profitable yet.