Jitterbug gets big bucks

GreatCall Inc. finally found some well-heeled backers for its Jitterbug service.
The Del Mar, Calif.-based startup said it pocketed $36.6 million in funding from Charles River Ventures, Nauta Partners and Steelpointe Capital Partners.
Jitterbug, a mobile virtual network operator using Sprint Nextel Corp.’s network, targets seniors with a no-frills wireless service and two stripped-down handsets from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. One phone features only three keys-911, Tow, and Operator, which is used to dial a live attendant, who connects the caller to predetermined contacts. The other phone is a traditional 12-key layout.
Neither handset has a camera or Web browser, though, and Jitterbug doesn’t offer ringtones or other kinds of mobile content.
The company launched in April 2006 and went national several months later, marketing its wares through traditional print media and television commercials. But Jitterbug has had substantial trouble attracting venture capital as investors focused on youth-targeted MVNOs-such as the now-bankrupt Amp’d Mobile Inc.-and wireless content companies.
“We designed Jitterbug to be . appealing especially to the very discerning baby boomers who want a mobile phone and service that gives them exactly what they want, and nothing they don’t,” said GreatCall founder Arlene Harris. “That vision of understanding customer needs and catering to them has long been a fundamental of good business, and it has once again proven itself to be sound. We will use this funding to more fully address the large boomer market and continue to make Jitterbug services even more responsive to our customers’ desires to make their lives fuller and easier.”