InMobi Raises $200M, Shakes Up the Mobile Ad War
Mobile advertising is a fast growing industry utilized by advertisers and developers as mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) and their consumer use continuously grow. InMobi, a leading mobile advertising company, raised $200 million in funding from Softbank, a Japanese internet company.
The Bangladore, India-based InMobi already reaches 340 million consumers in more than 165 countries and more than 47 billion mobile ad impressions on its network. It was founded in 2007 by Naveen Tewari and previously raised $15 million in a round of funding led by Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers although these two did not join the new round of funding.
InMobi aims to dominate mobile advertising on iOS and Android devices as these two currently makes the bulk of InMobi’s business at 60%. They have strongest influence in Asia but are also prominent in North America and Europe. The new funding will be used to expand their reach in China and Latin America, and to double their workforce within the next 12 months from their current 350 employees to 700.
Online advertising is still bigger compared to mobile advertising but with consumer’s insatiable appetite for mobile devices, mobile ads are expected to reach $24 billion by 2015. The projected revenue led to more investments in mobile advertising across the board. Millennial raised $27.5 million in January, while Jumptap raised $25 million in May. JiWire also raised $20 million in for location-based mobile ads. The frenzy also includes acquisitions such as eBay’s purchase of WHERE and ValueClick’s $70 million pick-up of Greystripe.
But that doesn’t mean that the traditional online advertising is missing out on all the fun. Yahoo!, AOL and Microsoft entered an advertising deal that sums up to selling each other’s “Class 2 display” inventory or graphic ads the companies can’t sell on their own, and would normally hand over to ad networks. Also, Walmart acquired the startup OneRiot whose product offerings include Trending Ads and RiotWise that allows their customers to scout preferred target audience.
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