Cloudflare Inc. is looking to establish a bigger presence in the mobile market.

To that end, the content delivery provider today announced that it has acquired Neumob Inc., an emerging competitor backed by Accel. The startup offers a service similar to Cloudflare’s that enables mobile developers to serve up content faster via their apps by storing it in multiple regions. When a user wishes to check, say, new product recommendations, the information will be loaded from the closest data center.

What sets Neumob apart is that its platform was specifically built with mobile devices in mind. According to the startup, a homegrown traffic optimization engine automatically finds the fastest network path through which data can reach a handset. The platform places a particular emphasis on shortening the so-called last mile between a user’s device and the cellular tower through which it connects to the web.

Thanks to this fine-tuning, Neumob said, it can speed up app response times by as much as 300 percent. Moreover, the startup promises an up to 90 percent reduction in connection timeouts, images loading failures and other network errors that commonly affect mobile users. 

Cloudflare will carry over Neumob’s technology to its delivery network in a bid to reach more developers. The company’s platform, which spans 118 data centers in 58 countries, already serves nearly 10 percent of the world’s web traffic.

The acquisition could potentially help Cloudflare to grow that number even further. Mobile Internet use surpassed traffic from desktops last year, with apps accounting for a significant portion of the bandwidth consumed. 

At the same time, Neumob’s technology should put Cloudflare in a better position to target Asian markets, where a significant portion of consumers access the web exclusively via mobile devices. The startup focused much of its efforts on the region prior to being acquired. Most recently, the startup moved into China by setting up points of presences in Hong Kong and other major cities.  

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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