The operator of hip-hop social network Urbmob.com confirms that it has raised $1.5 million in funding from venture investors including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Grosvenor Funds and New Atlantic Ventures (formerly Draper Atlantic). MBeat Media Inc., the company behind Urbmob and a related record label, is already raising a Series B round worth $4 million to $5 million, general manager Robert Delamar says. The news about its A round was first reported in The Washington Post.

Incorporated just two months ago, Urbmob operates a subscription service in which customers receive unlimited ringtone and wallpaper downloads for a monthly fee of $3.99. The site's TalentRank system rewards the most popular artists, who receive a share of subscription revenues; at least one rapper has received more than $1,500 to date. In addition to hip-hop music, the site caters to fans of top "urban models," featured in the wallpapers section. MBeat also is planning tie-ins with other relevant areas of the hip-hop lifestyle arena, including fashion, basketball and comedy.

"We think the future of music is on mobile devices," Delamar says, "and ringtones are the easiest way to distribute music on mobile devices."

He adds that roughly half mBeat's subscription revenues go to carriers, a quarter goes to a financial pool used to reward artists, and the remaining money lands in the company's coffers. MBeat projects that the Series B round will deliver positive cash flow by 2009. - Paul Bonanos

See April 28 article on mBeat's funding from The Washington Post