Boku Raises $35M

Mobile payments start-up Boku has raised $35 million from investors including New Enterprise Associates, Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures, as well as Telefonica SA, Spain’s largest phone company. Formed in 2008, San Francisco-based Boku has raised $75 million so far and operates in 67 countries.

PRESS RELEASE

BOKU, the global leader in online mobile payments, announced today that it has secured $35 Million in funding. Investors include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Telefonica Digital, the growth arm of the global telecoms leader, as well as previous investors. Additional participants in the round include Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures. The funding will be used to expand the team, broaden infrastructure and continue BOKU’s global expansion that started in 2009.

 

“Payments is an industry that requires scale, and in the three years since BOKU launched we’ve grown rapidly to partner with more than 250 mobile network operators, processing transactions in 67 countries around the world,” said Mark Britto, CEO of BOKU, Inc. “We see this investment as a clear vote of confidence from our new partners at NEA and Telefonica. They recognize that we’ve established a mobile billing system that offers bank grade technology on a global scale; this strategic investment will help us expand our business as well as facilitate the growth of our new BOKU Accounts platform.”

 

“Payments are going mobile and we want to be at the forefront of this trend,” said Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO, Telefonica Digital. “BOKU has quickly established itself as a true innovator in the mobile commerce space and this investment gives us access to their tools, infrastructure and know how, ideally complementing our own mobile payments expertise. In addition to the investment we are also embarking on a global partnership with BOKU to enhance our operator billing capabilities and the overall payment experience through our future mobile wallet services.”

 

Financial Services is a key focus area for Telefonica’s Digital unit that has been formed to drive growth and innovation across a range of digital services. Telefonica is committed to bringing mobile wallet and other innovative payments services to its customers across its operating businesses and through Wanda, its joint venture in Latin America with MasterCard. Tracy Isacke who runs the Venture Capital arm of Telefonica Digital and is based in Silicon Valley led the investment in BOKU.

 

“BOKU has built a phenomenal business around online mobile payments,” said Ravi Viswanathan, PhD, General Partner at NEA. “The next step is bringing mobile payments offline, and that’s what BOKU Accounts accomplishes. It works on all mobile operating systems across all hardware types, and applies for all subscribers. We look forward to partnering with BOKU as they take their offering to a whole new level.”

 

BOKU has raised a total of $75 Million in a series of funding rounds starting in 2008 when the company was formed. The company operates in 67 countries around the globe and partners with 250 mobile network operators.

 

About BOKU:

 

BOKU, the leading online mobile payments company, brings bank-grade payments technology and mobile users together, creating a trusted, accessible platform for consumers, merchants and carriers alike. Based in San Francisco with offices in Europe and Asia, BOKU reaches nearly 4 billion consumers worldwide, across 66 different countries. Leading Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists fund BOKU including Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures. For more information visit: www.boku.com

 

About Telefonica Digital

 

Telefonica Digital is a global business division of Telefonica. Its mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and deliver new growth for Telefonica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, mobile advertising, M2M and financial services. Telefonica Digital will deliver these innovative products and services to Telefonica’s 300 million customers as well as leveraging the power of the internet to enter new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paolo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Jajah, Terra, Tuenti, Media Networks Latin America, giffgaff and 48 are all part of the Telefonica Digital group of companies.

 

About NEA:

 

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in information technology, healthcare and energy technology companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record includes more than 170 portfolio company IPOs and more than 290 acquisitions, including investments in technology leaders like Data Domain, CareerBuilder, Diapers.com, Fusion-io, Groupon, Juniper, Macromedia, Playdom, Salesforce.com, and TiVo. In the U.S., NEA has two offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and one in Menlo Park, California. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing), Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China.