Led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Wavemaker Partners and PLDT Capital, investment will accelerate domestic and international growth across Phunware’s multiscreen platform products, solutions and data
AUSTIN, TX [November 2, 2016] – Phunware, whose Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS) platform helps brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide, today announced that it raised an additional $22 million of Series F growth financing, led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia (“Khazanah”), Wavemaker Partners and PLDT Capital, the investment arm of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (“PLDT”) (PSE: TEL) (NYSE: PHI). This second closing brings the company’s total Series F raised to date to $40 million, with the balance expected to close during the current quarter.
The round includes additional investment by current investors Fraser McCombs Capital, Maxima Ventures, WWE (NYSE: WWE), Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) and Baylor Angel Network (BAN) amongst others. The investment brings the total raised by Phunware since inception to $90 million, and comes during another record year for Phunware. In 2016, Phunware continued its aggressive growth trajectory, fueled by the recent launch of Phunware Data, which helps brands better capitalize on today’s digital and mobile data trails, with access to data across more than 650 million monthly active users touching the Phunware MaaS platform through thousands of branded mobile application portfolios. The company is operating at an annualized bookings run rate of approximately $70 million and continues to be recognized for its growth and leadership in both the mobile and multiscreen clouds. Aside from recently being named to the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the fourth consecutive year, Phunware is a two-time Forbes’ Most Promising Companies in America honoree, a three-time Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winner and a five-time ABJ Fast 50 recipient.
“Since our inception in 2009, Phunware has been uniquely leading the way in mobile innovation,” said Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “We are the only mobile, native and fully-integrated-first multiscreen cloud platform in the world and our MaaS platform products and solutions currently power more than 40 billion mobile user events every month and more than 1 trillion transactions annually. This funding will help turn every one of our global application touch points into an opportunity to reach, engage with and convert users on a 1:1 basis, and will further our vision of having every device in the Internet of Things touch the Phunware platform by 2020.”
Today, mobile continues to be the best way for brands to reach and convert users 1:1, representing more than 65% of digital media time according to comScore, nearly 90% of which is spent in mobile applications. Reports show continued mobile growth and investment in the coming years, with Forrester Research estimating a $32 billion mobile engagement market by 2018, and eMarketer estimating that mobile media buying will grow 45%, reaching nearly $46 billion by the end of this year and representing more than a third of total media spending in the U.S. by 2019. As consumers continue to turn to mobile devices, they are also demanding a streamlined experience across screens. Unlike traditional point solutions that result in siloed mobile experiences and require complex and costly management, Phunware’s comprehensive multiscreen platform approach enables the consistent brand experience consumers now expect, while giving brands superior results and insights without the heavy lifting.
For more information on Phunware MaaS platform products, solutions and data, including how the company is driving business growth for today’s most recognized brands globally, please visit www.phunware.com.
About Phunware
Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), a fully integrated suite of platform products, solutions and data, that allows brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with more than 650 million monthly active users touching its platform each month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way the world interacts with mobile in the virtual and physical worlds, visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.
