Mobile app Lua adds clients by making office life easier

You may be unchained from your desk, but chances are you’re still bogged down with email.

Lua, a New York-based mobile app for businesses, is adding corporate clients in droves by enabling roving workforces to mass-communicate in real time without the increasing hassle of emails and text messages.

The app’s simple interface allows groups of workers to easily send out broadcast text messages with their phones, share attachments, and even stage impromptu conference calls without the need for a dial-in code.

The app’s security features already have attracted clients at government agencies including the military, as well as movie studios, hospitals, hotels, real estate agents and the eBay Now local delivery service.

“The most important feature is accountability,” says founder and CEO Michael DeFranco. “You can see in real time who has and hasn’t read the message, so you don’t lose any momentum.”

Early adopters have included the Barclays Center, which relied on Lua to stage an impromptu conference call with ticket sellers after its systems went down just three minutes before halftime rush at a Nets game in late 2012.

“There aren’t enough text messages in the world to fix that problem,” Barclays Center chief strategy officer Brian Basloe said. “We got 4,000 serviced and I think the customer base was relatively unaware that we were dealing with this.”

The fast-growing app has likewise attracted a who’s-who roster of investors that includes David Tisch, Abundance LP, former Thomson-Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, and media magnate Strauss Zelnick.