Mobileway, the global leader in mobile messaging, marketing, and entertainment, has completed a $23 million Series D round of funding.
The company will use the additional capital to expand into new
territories such as China, dramatically increase its market
penetration in the United States, and launch a range of compelling new customer applications.
The latest round increases the total capital Mobileway has raised since its inception four years ago to more than $77 million. It will help the company to capitalize on and shape an
unprecedented phase of growth, innovation, and consolidation in the wireless data services market.
In the Series D round, a new U.S.-based investment partner, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), joins with existing investors 3i, CDP, Intel, Investcorp, Mayfield, Nexit Ventures, and Visa. Today, the company supplies more than 450 of the world’s leading brands with innovative mobile marketing and entertainment solutions, in addition to carrying international SMS and MMS traffic on behalf of more than 70 of the world’s mobile carrier networks.
Janice Roberts, general partner at lead investor Mayfield, said: “Following massive industry growth in Europe and Japan, China now represents a vast market opportunity, while the U.S. — which has lagged behind the world for the past few years — is finally waking up. Indeed, IDC forecasts that there will be 31 billion mobile-originated messages in the United States in 2007. The mobile phone is now the third consumer communications platform after the PC and the TV, and it’s increasingly replacing the landline as the primary home voice connection.”
Roberts also emphasized the importance of wireless data services for enterprises: “Mobileway is helping some of the world’s largest companies make mobile messaging an integral part of their business operations. We are in the midst of a communications revolution and Mobileway, with the backing of an extraordinary group of investors, is poised to reap the benefit of its aggressive, customer-oriented approach.”
Recent additions to the Mobileway global management team and increased investment in the company’s technology infrastructure has streamlined the business into two key focus areas: full service mobile marketing and entertainment solutions for brands and media players, and global network services for carriers and content houses. An unrivalled worldwide messaging reach via a network of more than 150
direct connections and access to more than 600 operators, coupled with first class application, database, and content management platforms, gives Mobileway a strong competitive advantage and solid base from which to play a pivotal role in the development of the wireless data market for today and tomorrow.
Russ Shaw, Mobileway’s London-based chief executive officer, commented: “Mobileway’s global success allows us to be aggressive in the marketplace — in terms of both acquisitions and new services — and we’re very pleased by our investors’ vote of confidence. We now can begin to build economies of scale and complete our end-to-end suite of complementary solutions, giving us the momentum necessary to pilot this growing marketplace. The winners in our sector will be those companies able to build solutions that are flexible, scalable, and that show a real understanding of a customer’s needs and vertical sector requirements. As the market continues to grow, blue-chip brands naturally will look to the emerging sector leaders as favored partners — and Mobileway will continue to occupy that role.”