Mobile Startups Grab $555M VC in September
The VC reign of the mobile app developers continues, but small cells and WiFi get some lovin' too in Rutberg's monthly funding survey.
Mobile-focused private companies grabbed $555 million in new VC funding in September, according to the industry watchers at Rutberg & Co.
September's total is a little off August's haul of $738 million, which was driven by Uber. Nonetheless, private companies in mobile have so far raised $6.1 billion in 814 deals in 2013, Rutberg & Co. notes.
Here are the highest earners:
Startup | Latest funding | Location | Developing | Backers |
$50M | Palo Alto, Calif. | Mobile news aggregation app | Goldman Sachs, Rizvi Traverse Management | |
MobileIron | $47.5M | Mountain View, Calif. | Mobile enterprise device management | N/A |
HotelTonight | $45M | San Francisco | Mobile hotel-booking app | Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, Coatue Management, GGV Capital, First Round Capital, US Venture Partners |
Benu Networks | $26.6M | Billerica, MA | WiFi & Small cell systems for carriers | Comcast Ventures, Spark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures |
Jawbone | $20M | Santa Monica, Calif. | Connected devices | Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital |
Source: Rutberg & Co. |
You might not be too shocked to learn that mobile user anonymity tools are becoming an interesting area for VC investors, too. Rutberg writes:
This month saw four investments in companies whose products are centered on user anonymity or content impermanence. Whisper raised $15 million from Lightspeed Ventures and Sequoia Capital for its secret-sharing mobile application and website. Tic Toc Planet raised $6 million from SK Planet for its texting application with both anonymous and self-destruct features. Ad Hoc Labs raised $2 million from Founder Collective, TenOneTen, and Venrock for its mobile application that provides the user with a temporary phone number. Lastly, Ansa raised $300,000 from undisclosed investors for its messaging application with an optional self-destruct feature. We expect to see even further investment in the space as Snapchat continues to prove itself as a successful first-mover and media attention continues to focus on the government's privacy breaches.
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— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
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