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With an increase in mobile users, technology is now getting synonymous with mobile phones. The line between advancement of technology and mobile phones is getting thinner. Advent of a number of startups and development of existing ones has attracted a lot of investor interest. In 2014 alone, Mobile VC investment was around $4.7 Bn with $931 Mn, $2592 Mn and $1188 Mn in Quarter 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Though CB Insights has released data on the most active Mobile VC Investors in 2014.
Leading the list of most active investors is SV Angel, followed by Lerer Hippeau Ventures which raised a $62 Mn fund. Sequoia Capital funded Yik Yak, Thanx and Relcy that helped it become the third most active mobile investor.
Moving on to the corporate front, Google Ventures topped the list having the highest total investments which was followed by Qualcomm Ventures and Intel Capital.
Mobile transport market witnessed an exponential growth as companies like Uber, DiDiDache funded over half a billion dollars each. Uber led the list with a total of $2.4 Bn after it took the top two largest financing deals in 2014. Surprisingly, these were within six months of each other. Uber was not the only witnessing large fundraisings. The same was experienced by DiDiDache, Grabtaxi and lyft which is Uber’s arch enemy in the Unites States.
In an year which was filled with mergers, fundings and startups, there were some notable exits too. Acquisition of Whatsapp by Facebook was the largest acquisition till date. Whatsapp is backed by Sequoia Capital and this acquisition rounded about $22 Bn. Other exits included security firms AirWatch and MobileIron.
Following this global trend, various Indian startups have also raised plethora of funds as people are getting acclimated to them gradually. India has also brewed few startups. Bangalore based startup Little Eye Labs, involved in making software tools for performance analysis, was acquired by Facebook. Another startup which focuses on obtaining home services, Timesaverz has become popular among its users. Known as Indian-Uber is Ola Cabs which has raised $26Mn and is quite popular among cab users.
