Advertising-funded MVNO Blyk is to expand into the Dutch market with a planned launch on Vodafone’s network in the second half of this year. The company also today announced that investment bank Goldman Sachs and Kuwait’s Industrial Financial Investments Company have taken an undisclosed stake in the company, which already has funding from Sofinnova Partners and other private investors.

Blyk launched last September in the UK, giving 16- to 24-year olds free text messages and calls in return for viewing advertising messages. Earlier this week Mobile Business Briefing reported that the company’s UK operation is growing by 3,000 subscribers every week and has a total customer base of 30,000 at present. Blyk says it is on target to achieve 50,000 UK subscribers by March and 100,000 by the end of the year. According to a recent Mobile Entertainment report, the company claims that click-through rates are running at a level of 12 to 43 percent. Based in Helsinki, the company was set up by a former president of Nokia.