InMobi closed $200 Million from Softbank
Printer Print Email Email
InMobi closed $200 Million from Softbank
Bangalore: Bangalore-based InMobi, a mobile advertising company, has raised $200 million fund from Japan-based Softbank. Softbank provides services on mobile communications, broadband infrastructure and Internet and fixed-line telecommunications. The investment will take place in two tranches, with $100 million this month and the rest in April 2012. With the fund, the company aims to overtake Google as the world leader in the category. Founded in 2007 by three alumni of IIT-Kanpur, Naveen Tewari, Abhay Singhal and Amit K Gupta, InMobi, earlier mKhoj, helps advertisers and developers serve up mobile ads. They have earlier raised $15 million in venture funding from Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Currently, they have reached 332 million unique phone users and plans to increase their head count from 350 to 700 in the next 12 months. InMobi has more than 47.3 billion monthly impressions. Recently, InMobi acquired a Silicon Valley startup 'Sprout', a platform provider for creating HTML5 rich media mobile advertising. The current round of funding will be used to hire people, finance acquisitions and expand aggressively in new regions such as China. The fund will also be used to scale up its recently launched mobile payment service SmartPay. It has recently tied up with NDTV Convergence; the digital arm of media house NDTV, to deliver mobile ads on the latter's mobile applications. InMobi has its presence in five continents. It provides advertisers, publishers and developers with a uniquely global solution for advertising. InMobi was recently included in both the 2011 AlwaysOn Global 250 and the 2011. It has offices in San Francisco, London, Bangalore, Tokyo, Nairobi and Singapore. Naveen Tewari, CEO and Co-Founder, InMobi, is responsible for the overall vision, strategy and execution of InMobi. Tewari started his career with McKinsey & Company where he worked on developing the go-to-market strategy for a large Indian conglomerate, as it entered the telecom sector. He has also worked with the top management of technology companies on various issues. Later, he joined Charles River Ventures (CRV), a top tier VC firm focusing on early stage investing in software and communications. Tewari worked with CRV on developing its India investment strategy. He also worked briefly with a mobile VoIP startup in Silicon Valley. He is the founder and chairman of U.S.-based non-profit organization, India School Fund, which has been formed to set up schools in rural India. Naveen has a Bachelors degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and has a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He received the 'Dean's Award', the highest honor for his exceptional leadership and contribution at Harvard Business School.

siliconindia