Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Digit Wireless gets $4M and a new CEO

Mobile phone interface maker Digit Wireless Inc. has landed $4 million in new funding and brought in former Telus Communications Inc. executive Robert Blumenthal to lead the company as CEO.

The funding marks the fourth round for the Burlington company, bringing its total to $16.1 million. The financing was provided by previous investors Venrock Partners in Cambridge and Qualcomm Inc.

Blumenthal, who previously worked in the consumer services division of Canadian telecommunications company Telus, takes over for former CEO Mark Connon, who led the company for five years. No information regarding Connon's departure was provided.

Digit has a long relationship with Telus. Last year, the two firms partnered with Chinese telecommunications equipment and electronics maker ZTE to offer a Digit Wireless enabled handset on Telus' network. Telus' venture arm, Telus Ventures, is also an investor in Digit Wireless. Telus was the first service provider to offer a phone equipped with Digit's Fastap keyboard, and Blumenthal was instrumental in that process, according to company officials.

The keypad is now available through additional carriers, including Alltel Wireless Inc. in the United States, UTStarcom in Latin America and Tellcel in Mexico. The company is also working on adapting its Fastap keypad to other languages. Last year, it launched a version in Cyrillic, and last week announced versions supporting text adaptations of Chinese and Hindi.

Digit's keypad features 26 small keys placed among the 12-button keypad of traditional mobile phones.