California-based mobile money service provider Obopay today announced that the world’s largest handset vendor, Nokia, has bought an undisclosed minority stake in the start-up. The Financial Times reports the value of the investment to be in the region of US$70 million. “This investment reflects our belief in the global potential for mobile payments,” Nokia’s VP and head of corporate business development, Teppo Paavola, said in a statement. Paavola will join Obopay’s board of directors. An AP report notes that Obopay had previously raised US$69 million through VC firms and Qualcomm. A statement added that Obopay will use the Nokia investment “to aggressively extend their product suite and enhance their global presence, as mobile devices become constantly moe integrated into the daily lives of the world’s 4 billion mobile consumers.”

The deal has already been regarded as proof that the mobile payments market is really beginning to take off, with reports noting that the investment is coming from the Finnish company’s corporate funds, not its venture arms, because Nokia wants a close collaboration with Obopay. The service, available in the US and India, lets people pay each other through text messages or other mobile phone applications. The funds can come out of bank accounts or credit cards. People without bank accounts can prepay funds into an Obopay account. Obopay claims to be the first mobile payment service created exclusively for the mobile phone, able to work on any device and any network. Other major companies involved in the mobile payments space include Vodafone, which struck a deal with Western Union in December, and Obopay rival, PayPal Mobile, from eBay.