Jana operates the mCent Android app that gives users free, unrestricted mobile data in exchange for immersive advertising experiences (for example, spending minutes in advertisers’ apps or receiving promotional content). The company is integrated into the back-end billing systems of 311 mobile operators across 93 countries and says 30 million people have used its service; Jana also claims it can provide free connectivity to up to 4.5 billion phone numbers from partner operators. Jana is a roughly 85-person, Boston-based team that spent seven years building its infrastructure, which completed in 2014. Management says the business has been profitable in some quarters and that the company can drive significant revenue and margins. Jana plans to scale its advertising sales organization to monetize partnerships more effectively and compete with large tech players targeting emerging markets. The company’s model centers on partnering with advertisers and mobile operators to subsidize data rather than charging end users. TxtEagle provides crowdsourcing and market-research services in developing markets by forwarding surveys and tasks to thousands of GSM phone users via the USSD protocol rather than SMS. Its platform sends work to members and compensates them primarily with mobile airtime, and it is also hooked into mobile cash services such as Kenya’s M-PESA. The company works with 220 mobile operators in almost 100 countries, collectively covering roughly 2.1 billion subscribers, and serves clients including UN researchers and advertisers. By using free USSD communications and airtime payments, TxtEagle addresses the cost constraints of prepaid users in low-income regions. Financially, the company recently raised $8.5 million from a consortium including Spark Capital and RBC Venture Partners. Long-term, CEO and co-founder Nathan Eagle (an MIT professor) plans to evolve the platform into a mechanism for community-generated content similar to Craigslist or Wikipedia.

Total raised

$66M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Feb 2016