U.S. Mobile Sector Activity

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

We’ve noticed an investment deal and several acquisitions all involving mobile screens in the last few days that we felt worth noting:

  • New York-based OfferMobi.com, an affiliate ad network for U.S. mobile campaigns, has raised $1 million in new funding from ARC Angel Fund, New York, and some of its limited partners.

    Offermobi, founded in 2010, counts 8,500 publisher partners and 60 mobile advertising clients. It will use the new funds to add to its team, and to launch new mobile offers for the finance and entertainment markets.

  • Verve Wireless, the San Diego and Washington, D.C., developer of a mobile ad platform for local media, has acquired Deconstruct Media, a mobile ad technology firm.

    Deconstruct offers an automated mobile display advertising system that allows mobile publishers to manage their ad sales and offer their ad inventory through a self-service interface. Advertisers can then review available options and buy campaigns using a credit card.

    Verve plans to integrate the Deconstruct system into its Ad Manager platform.

  • Bellevue, Washington-based Motricity has acquired Adenyo, a mobile marketing software firm with offices in Canada, France and the U.S., for a reported $100 million in both cash and stock options.

    Adenyo, a privately owned firm, has been successful in helping businesses – including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Ford – target consumers via mobile marketing and advertising campaigns.

    Motricity plans to integrate Adenyo’s mobile advertising and analytics capabilities into Motricity’s mCore Platform, and combined with mCore’s existing content management and mobile commerce capabilities, will create a solution set that will deliver high value and relevant content, applications, goods, services and advertising campaigns all through one highly scalable, carrier-grade, managed service platform.

  • Shelton, Connecticut-based NewNet Communication Technologies, a Skyview Capital portfolio company and leading provider of mobile messaging and signaling infrastructure solutions for wireless, IP and wireline networks, has acquired Schaumburg, Illinois-based Traxcom Technologies, a leader in secure transaction processing platforms and advanced encryption technologies.

    Traxcom, also a Skyview company, will benefit from NewNet’s globally deployed engineering, support and sales organizations.

    Traxcom platforms support a wide range of end-user payment options including mobile phones, ATMs, Near Field Communication terminals, Point of Sale stations at retail locations, and PC/Netbook/Tablet based applications.

    Mobile payments are currently growing at a triple digit rate and are expected to reach $1.1 trillion globally by 2014.

ABI Research forecasts an unprecedented opportunity for growth in the mobile marketing and advertising market, projecting global spend will reach $28.9 billion by 2014.


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