Mobile VC Bumps Up to $868M in December

Mobile device management, news aggregation, and photo apps draw the glittering VC prizes in December.

Dan Jones, Mobile Editor

January 28, 2014

2 Min Read
Mobile VC Bumps Up to $868M 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

Flipboard

$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

Source: Rutberg & Co.

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

About the Author(s)

Dan Jones

Mobile Editor

Dan is to hats what Will.I.Am is to ridiculous eyewear. Fedora, trilby, tam-o-shanter -- all have graced the Jones pate during his career as the go-to purveyor of mobile essentials.

But hey, Dan is so much more than 4G maps and state-of-the-art headgear. Before joining the Light Reading team in 2002 he was an award-winning cult hit on Broadway (with four 'Toni' awards, two 'Emma' gongs and a 'Brian' to his name) with his one-man show, "Dan Sings the Show Tunes."

His perfectly crafted blogs, falling under the "Jonestown" banner, have been compared to the works of Chekhov. But only by Dan.

He lives in Brooklyn with cats.

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