The investment arm of Motorola Inc. (MOT) has funneled an undisclosed amount of money into a mobile barcode company that provides product reviews, price comparisons and coupons through camera phones.
Motorola is, in part, a mobile device maker.
Motorola Ventures, along with Masthead Venture Partners, Hudson Ventures and other private investors, said Tuesday it’s funding Scanbuy Inc., maker of the ScanLife app. ScanLife runs on the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry, as well as Symbian and Java devices.
ScanLife lets companies put one- or two-dimensional barcodes on product packaging or in magazine ads, for example. Consumers then can scan the barcode with their mobile phones and get Web-enabled information on the items in question. Businesses can track data such as quantities and locations.
Scanbuy, based in New York City, was founded in 2000. It’s already gotten magazines Esquire, Star, Entertainment Weekly and InStyle to put its barcodes in their publications.
"Motorola has looked at this market very carefully and believes that Scanbuy has the best combination of technology and strong ecosystem partners in its space," said Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Ventures, in a prepared statement. "Mobile barcodes are an extremely powerful tool for consumers, businesses and wireless providers, which makes this opportunity very exciting for Motorola.”
Scanbuy had previously raised $21 million through investors it hasn’t named.
