Telefónica leads in number and volume of investments
The most mediatic one has been carried out by Telefónica Ventures at everythng.me $25M together with SingTel Innov8, Mozilla and others investors current. Everything.me is driving a paradigm shift for smartphones as part of a transition from "smart" to "dynamic". Instead of the static experience of today's smartphone, a "dynamic" phone adapts its application offering on the fly. Through a search, it matches the content and services that a user is interested in at a given moment with the most relevant applications available for them.
The operator, through Telefónica Digital (and of its venture capital division), participated in a financing round of the US mobile payment technology company Boku. The overall deal is worth around $$35M. Telefónica explained that Boku will become a preferred partner in the mobile payments sector and will give the operator access to the US company's network of business partners, "expanding the number of places where customers can use their mobile wallet". Telefónica added that the deal will give Boku access to its more than 300 million customers worldwide.
Addfleetafter reaching an agreement with accelerator Inspirit by Didac Leeclosed a financing round with Telefónica and La Caixa with a €3M joint investment to boost the company's global commercialisation. The company, addFleet, thus consolidates its position as a provider of urban mobility management solutions. Prior to the current investment, Telefónica signed a global commercial agreement with addFleet to include this service in its global portfolio of M2M (mobile services) products.
"One of the great advantages of signing a round with a inverter The main objective of the corporate strategy is to strengthen commercial ties that will allow for a faster and more global introduction into the market", says Diego Gutierrez, an expert in alternative financing at Abra Invest.
Mobility is also a field for business angels.
Along with the large investments of TelefónicaThe mobility sector has also seen the presence of smaller investors. This is a good sign that the sector is not mature and that much remains to be done. One example is the company ItinerariumThe company, specialising in the development of geolocation applications, was founded in 2007 by Narcís Vives and received the support of two investors who have provided €1.2M for the expansion of the company's business.
Also the spin-off of the University of Seville, Icineticspecialising in the development of applications for Windows mobile, was financed by investors of the business network angel Keiretsu. Or Gijón's investment in fleet management company ADN context mobile solutions.