Carrier IQ Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of mobile service intelligence solutions for wireless carriers and equipment vendors, has raised $20 million in Series C funding. Intel Capital, Presidio Ventures and Sumitomo Corp. were joined by return backers firms like Accel Partners, Charles River Ventures and MDV. The company had previously raised around $23 million.
PRESS RELEASE
Carrier IQ, the leader in Mobile Service Intelligence solutions for wireless carriers and equipment vendors, today confirmed that despite the adverse prevailing financial market conditions, the company had completed a significant new round of funding, raising $20 million and also attracting key strategic investors including Intel Capital and Presidio Ventures, a Sumitomo Corporation Company.
With this recent financing round, Carrier IQ’s vision of using data directly from the mobile handset to drive improvements in mobile service performance and usability has been backed both by its existing investors and new strategic investors. This third stage funding round will significantly fuel expansion and product development.
Announcing the investment, Carrier IQ CEO Mark Quinlivan said: “To raise $20 million in the current financial climate is a solid endorsement of the company’s success to date and the potential for future growth and expansion in the Mobile Service Intelligence market.”
“Even in these tough economic times, Carrier IQ is able to continue investing in our product development and geographical expansion,” he added.
Carrier IQ provides both mobile network operators and handset manufacturers with vital information on mobile voice and data service performance as delivered to each end user and the overall customer experience. Carrier IQ software, which consists of embedded software on mobile devices and server-side analytics applications, enables mobile operators and device OEMs to understand in detail a wide range of performance and usage characteristics of mobile services and devices. These include both network-facing services such as core voice and data offerings, as well as non-network-facing capabilities such as music players, cameras and other side loaded media, in order to assist with product and service development and roll-out.
Quinlivan noted, “By providing much more detail to operators and handset companies about their customers’ actual user experiences, we can help the operators and handset companies improve their overall product and service offerings.”
“In these challenging economic times, it will become increasingly critical for handset companies and operators alike to make precise investment decisions on rolling out new user services and features. The more you know about your customers’ needs, the more able you are to retain these customers and grow their usage by delivering high quality targeted services,” added Quinlivan.
“Intel Capital is delighted to support Carrier IQ as the company moves to the next stage of its development,” said Sriram Viswanathan, Vice President of Intel Capital and General Manager, WiMAX Program Office. “The ability to differentiate services offered to end-users is critically important in the mobile market. The Carrier IQ solution gives service providers an edge to offer enhanced services to customers.”
“Presidio Ventures is pleased to have completed an investment in Carrier IQ,” said Tom Kato, President and CEO. “With operators wishing to further enhance the quality, performance and coverage of their services, Carrier IQ’s solution delivers the precise information needed to maximize service quality and return on investment. We believe this capability to monitor performance in detail will become an essential part of mobile service delivery in the future.”
Quinlivan confirmed that the additional funding would help Carrier IQ to strengthen its geographical reach in both Europe and Asia Pacific. It will also help the company develop new products within its IQ Insight application suite. These products are based on Carrier IQ’s state-of the-art Mobile Service Intelligence Platform “MSIP” to deliver true actionable intelligence tailored to specific business areas, such as the new data card analyzer product announced in the second half of 2008.
Quinlivan also expects to confirm partnership agreements to embed the company’s software in more handsets and networks in 2009. The company’s software already sits on some 35 million mobile handsets worldwide.
About Carrier IQ
Carrier IQ enables mobile carriers, phone manufacturers and service providers to improve their offerings based on direct insight into the customer experience. Deployed on over 35 million phones from 7 leading vendors worldwide, Carrier IQ is the world’s leading provider of Mobile Service Intelligence solutions that use the mobile phone to give detailed metrics on service quality and usage. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Carrier IQ is a privately held, venture capital-financed company with offices in USA, UK and Malaysia. Please visit www.carrieriq.com
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$7.5 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in 45 countries. In that timeframe, 168 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 212 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2008, Intel Capital invested about US$1.59 billion in 169 investments with approximately 62 percent of funds (excluding Clearwire) invested outside North America. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com
About Presidio Ventures
Founded in 1998, Presidio Ventures is the wholly owned early stage investment vehicle of Sumitomo Corporation. As an investor and a partner, Presidio Ventures assists early stage companies looking towards global markets, like Japan and Asia to grow their business and maintain their competitive edge. Presidio leverages its technology expertise, international business development experience, and a cross-industry network to identify overseas partners for its portfolio companies and provides financial resources necessary to take advantage of growth opportunities.
Since its inception, Presidio Ventures has invested in over 100 U.S. startups for a total investment amount of $200 million. Presidio Ventures is located in Silicon Valley (head office), Boston and New York. For more information visit www.presidio-ventures.com
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