With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.

Looking for a bit of fun to cheer you up in these trying economic times? Check out MocoSpace. According to its VP of Marketing, Jim Gregoire, MocoSpace is "the most fun you can have on your mobile – stay in touch with friends, make new ones, make a profile, share photos, blog, chat, IM, play games and so much more." MocoSpace was founded in 2005 by a pair of entrepreneurs who saw a chance to profit from the intersection of mobile technology, social networks, and advertising,

They are big trends in digital media: mobile and social networking.

So why not combine the two? Well, that's the play with MocoSpace. In fact, this week the company raised $4 million in venture capital. The investors include: General Catalyst Partners and Pilot Group.

MocoSpace is certainly getting traction. For example, there are now more than two million members. What's more, the service generates one billion page views per month.

Essentially, MocoSpace helps with things like photo sharing, games, and links to profiles.

"I agree that there's saturation in the traditional social networks," said Justin Siegel, co-founder and chief executive officer of MocoSpace, in an interview with me. "But in the mobile space, it's still early and a great opportunity. A big advantage we have is being a first mover in this space."

Besides, with the lower costs of mobile plans – as well as the huge popularity of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone – MocoSpace has some nice growth drivers.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

It seems inevitable that social network will soon be a very big deal on mobile devices. And here comes a new player that wants to be the leader: MocoSpace.

The company has raised $3 million in venture capital. The investors include: General Catalyst, Pilot Group, and Michael Dearing, who is a former executive from eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY).

Consider that there are roughly 76 million mobile content subscribers in the U.S. and only about 6.7% of them use social things like chat and dating applications. So why not social networking? There is certainly a lot of upside potential.

However, I'm a bit skeptical on MocoSpace (at least for now. And then there's the name: Mocos is Spanish slang for snot...didn't anyone mention that to the founders?) I'm sure we'll see many more startups hit the market, hopefully with more enticing names, and surely many with funding. Of course, the established biggies like MySpace and Facebook will in the meantime improve their offerings. Or, if they can't get much traction, they'll just use their enormous resources to buy up a competitor. In other words, we are still in the early innings on this.

Want to check out more venture capital fundings? Click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.