Mobile device management, news aggregation, and photo apps draw the glittering VC prizes in December.
Mobile startups pulled in $868 million in December 2013, according to the latest report from Rutberg & Co, with device management and mobile application ventures attracting some of the big bucks.
Rutberg & Co. reported that the $868 million was spread across 105 deals last month. Mobile VC deals totaled $600 million in November. (See Mobile VC Funding Hits $600M in November and Mobile Startups Grab $555M VC in September.)
Here are the top five mobile VC earners in December:
Startup | Latest funding | Location | Developing | Backers |
OpenPeak | $93M | Boca Raton, FL | Mobile device & app management | AT&T |
Planet Labs | $52M | San Francisco, Calif. | Miniature imaging satellites | Yuri Milner; Felicis Ventures, Industry Ventures, Lux Capital, Ray Rothrock |
$50M | Palo Alto, Calif. | Mobile news aggregation app | Rizvi Traverse Management; Goldman Sachs, Index Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers | |
Snapchat | $50M | Pacific Palisades, Calif. | An ephemeral photo messaging app | Coatue Management |
Foursquare | $35M | New York City | A location-based mobile social network | Capital Group, DFJ Growth |
Mobile device and application management remains a hot investment trend. Rutberg says that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) pumped $93 million into OpenPeak, a company that provides a white-label mobile management system for partners. (See VMware to Buy AirWatch for $1.54B.)
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
You May Also Like
.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
