Remember mGinger? The mobile advertising company which initially made headlines in 2006-07 (yeah, it's been that long) by offering users money to receive SMS advertising, has been acquired by ValueFirst Messaging, as a part of its consumer media play. According to a statement from Valuefirst, this is an all cash deal, but the acquisition price has not been disclosed. Update: Note that mGinger and ValueFirst are both backed by a common investor - New Enterprise Associates (NEA). NEA had participated in mGinger's last investment round with IndoUS Ventures and Draper Fisher in 2007. NEA had invested in ValueFirst in different funding rounds in 2009 and in 2011. The deal gives ValueFirst 4 million "highly profiled opted-in registered users" in addition to the 50 million opted–in subscribers which they already have across their various other assets; in the statement, though, Valuefirst appears to be positioning this as an acquisition which gives them access to agencies: "strong brand name and reputation with agencies","excellent brand name that enjoys huge trust with clients and media agencies". M-ginger is now being used to promote deals (which it should have been doing from the beginning, frankly), but they still operate on the model of giving customers rewards. According to their terms, they pay commissions for direct and indirect referrals, and payouts are made when a user accumulates Rs 300. They also offer Free SMS, like Way2SMS and 160by2, which ValueFirst acquired. Apart from this, they offer consumers event and discount information and free mobile games. What's ValueFirst's…
