Urban Airship has raised $15.1 million from key investors. Taking part in the Series C funding round were salesforce.com and Verizon. Also taking part were Foundry Group and True Ventures – both current investors.
The company, a mobile infrastructure and mobile marketing provider, says the money will be used in helping to develop mobile apps. In addition, The BusinessInsider reported that the money will help increase the company's sales force and help it grow in Europe and Asia. It is also interested in purchasing additional companies, BusinessInsider said. Urban Airship recently acquired SimpleGeo.
"In the mobile market things are really heating up, so consolidation is inevitable. SimpleGeo is the first of many acquisitions we'll be doing," Scott Kveton, CEO, Urban Airship, told BusinessInsider. “We wanted to take a significant round because we feel there’s a pretty unique opportunity to grab some market share right now,” Kveton added in an interview with VentureBeat.
The new money from investors brings the total raised by the company to $21.6 million, according to a company press release.
“The velocity of change just won’t stop in mobile and we are working hand in hand with some of the world’s biggest brands to help them set their mobile strategies, and create experiences that consumers will love,” Kveton said in the company statement. “Right on the heels of our SimpleGeo acquisition, we’ve got the best team, best technology and a proven business model. Now, with this infusion of capital, the Airship is set to really take off.”
In the press release, Urban Airship notes that several options will be offered on a single platform such as “push notifications, in-app purchasing, subscriptions, context and geo-location.”
Among the companies using Urban Airship are: Dictionary.com, Groupon, Warner Bros., Weather Channel and Yahoo.
Urban Airship has more than 20,000 customers.
In other recent news, TechZone360 reports that Carpathia Hosting was selected by Urban Airship as a managed hosting partner. The provider of mobile services will connect AWS cloud servers with bare-metal servers, TechZone360 adds. Urban Airship will use Direct Connect.
Ed Silverstein is a TechZone360 contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves