Proxama will retain the Hypertag brand in the deal as well as incorporating members of the Hypertag senior management team and key staff into the new set-up. Neil Garner will hold overall responsibility for the group. Jonathan Morgan, currently Managing Director of Hypertag, will join Proxama with immediate effect and will be responsible for integrating the two businesses, providing continuity for existing Hypertag customers.

Hypertag will become a division of Proxama to focus on delivering proximity marketing campaigns for international brands such as Nokia, Ford, O2 and BP. It will now also be able to add NFC technology to its Bluetooth Marketing and Wi-Fi propositions.

The Proxama brand will lead on the creation of technology services for NFC applications including contactless payments and ticketing. Proxama has been working closely with brands such as Nokia, MasterCard, BT, Tesco and Virgin on creating NFC applications ready for launch when mass market handsets emerge.

Commenting on the acquisition, Neil Garner, CEO of Proxama said: "Mobile is truly coming of age this year so I am delighted that we have secured a deal that will create the world's leading proximity marketing specialist. Both companies have a track record of success in using mobile technology to revolutionise marketing campaigns and provide a greater return on investment for brands. With the growth of mobile uptake, NFC usage and the switching of advertising revenues away from traditional media we are perfectly placed to exploit the demand for 'hyper-local' marketing communications.

"Hypertag will build its proposition as the leader in its field for embracing Bluetooth and now NFC technology to create much greater customer engagement and measurement for marketers. Proxama will continue to develop technology to bring contactless payments and ticketing on mobile phones to greater numbers of users as well as driving forward the innovation of NFC applications.

"Without a doubt, 2011 promises to be a very exciting and fast-moving year for mobile phone usage. The joining together of Proxama with Hypertag is a most natural fit and we now have an established platform to bring a sea-change to the use of mobile phones as the most valued payment and information tool in people's hands."

Jonathan Morgan, Managing Director of Hypertag, commented "We originally founded Hypertag in 2001 to exploit NFC technology because of its payment capabilities. However, due to the time it has taken for NFC to reach critical mass we adopted other technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Now that NFC is about to take-off in a big way, the deal with Proxama to bring all the technology under one roof is a timely and sensible one."