Participated · Series A · Oct 2023

Boksi operates an online platform that connects social media influencers and brands, allowing brands to order images, videos and influencer marketing directly from creators. Founded in 2018 and based in Finland, the company broadened its product set earlier this year by acquiring Finnish platform Monochrome to bolster offerings for creatives and brands. Boksi has positioned itself as a technology-forward player aimed at improving efficiency in the creator economy. Financially, the company completed a €7 million Series A round, with a first closing in late 2022. Management says the fresh funding will be used to accelerate expansion into Central Europe, with an immediate focus on the German market and the wider DACH region. The CEO has indicated the company is also scouting potential acquisition targets in Germany to fast-track growth. Boksi.com operates a curated network of global content creators who produce on-demand photo and video content for brands. The company matches creators to brands using algorithms to find the best fit. It was co-founded by CEO Lasse Laaksonen and Tomer Atzmon. Boksi.com raised €1.2M in funding to support growth. The company plans to use the funds to expand into central Europe and the UK. Robin Bade joined as the new chairman of the board. Boksi is a micro-influencer marketing platform that analyses posts of micro-influencers on Instagram and maps followers' behaviour and preferences to improve marketer–influencer matching. The company says it is one of the fastest-growing influencer marketing platforms in Europe and operates in Finland, Sweden, Russia, Germany, the US, Denmark, and Croatia. Boksi launched in the summer of 2018 and is headquartered in Helsinki. Its platform focuses on analysing followers directly rather than relying solely on influencer proxies to identify better fits for marketers. CEO Lasse Laaksonen has described the approach as digging deeper into follower behaviour and preferences. The company recently raised $1 million in a funding round led by Trind Ventures; the article did not include revenue or user metrics.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2013

HDmessaging provides white-label mobile messaging services to operators, offering group conversation, IP-based messaging, media sharing, cross-platform access, SMS compatibility and cloud storage. The company also offers MagicWords, a platform that augments messaging with contextual links and recommendations based on conversation content and user profiles. Led by CEO Jonathon Linner, HDmessaging counts operator partners including Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Singtel, Idea, T-Mobile and Maxis. The company has offices in Finland, the UK and India in addition to its Burlingame headquarters. HDmessaging closed a $3M funding round and intends to use the proceeds to invest in product development for its white-label messaging and MagicWords platforms and to expand internationally.

Participated · Series B · May 2013

Rightware develops Kanzi, an embedded UI creation tool and performance benchmarking software used by carmakers and consumer electronics firms. Kanzi includes WYSIWYG features that let designers and engineers collaborate and preview the UI on target hardware to shorten development time. The company counts Audi AG among its customers and reports traction in the automotive and consumer electronics sectors across Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Rightware said its Q1 2013 UI business revenues were more than double compared with Q1 2012 and reported roughly 100% growth in the first quarter, continuing month-over-month. Founded in 2009, the company has offices in Finland, Germany, China, Taiwan and the U.S. It plans to use the new funding to expand global sales and technical support, open offices closer to customers, and continue R&D on the Kanzi tool. Rightware develops advanced user interface technologies and solutions for mobile phones and embedded applications, notably its Kanzi UI platform. The company also provides device performance measurement products and services for mobile and embedded industries. It announced a €3m venture capital financing to accelerate development and marketing of Kanzi, its performance measurement products, and industry services. Rightware acquired Futuremark Corporation’s Mobile and Embedded Business Unit as part of its strategic moves. The company will continue Futuremark’s work on industry-leading system performance analysis tools. Rightware is based in Espoo, Finland.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2012

Funambol offers the OneMediaHub white-label personal cloud solution for mobile operators, content providers and other companies. OneMediaHub is deployed by eight tier-1 mobile operators across five continents, addressing an addressable market of more than 1B subscribers. The company says it will use the new funds to accelerate worldwide expansion of its solution. Leadership includes CEO Amit Chawla, President Fabrizio Capobianco and CFO Alberto Onetti. Funambol is based in Foster City, California. Related news notes a prior $5.75M raise on 10/10/2012. Funambol provides a white-label personal cloud solution called OneMediaHub to mobile carriers, telcos, device makers, service providers, portals and system integrators. Customers are already deploying OneMediaHub to millions of their users. The company positions itself against ‘siloed’ services such as Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive by supporting multiple brands and cross-device compatibility, drawing on its open-source roots. Funambol has closed a new $5.75M funding round and secured a working-capital line to accelerate global expansion. Management says the financing will be used to speed customer acquisition and retention with major global mobile providers as demand for cross-device cloud services grows. Previous investors participated in the latest financing, underscoring investor confidence in its white-label personal cloud market opportunity. Funambol builds open-source cloud-sync software to synchronize cross-platform devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) with heavily used websites and enterprise systems. The company markets itself as “like iCloud for all mobile phones and connected devices.” It began focused solely on mobile-device syncing and later introduced a mobile messaging app in 2008. Customers listed in the article include Alcatel‑Lucent, Rackspace, Sprint and Samsung. The company was named an OnMobile Top 100 winner. Financially, the company recently raised $3 million and previously received a $12.5 million injection from HIG Ventures and Walden International in 2008. Funambol develops open-source mobile messaging and synchronization software, including a carrier edition that scales to millions of users. Its push-email sync lets corporate email reach the roughly 98% of phones without native email capabilities. The software has been downloaded more than two million times, making it a leading open-source mobile offering. The company generates revenue through its carrier edition. Funambol has about 75 employees, with most of its development team located in Italy. With the new financing the company plans to expand in Europe and Asia. Funambol develops open-source mobile application servers. The company's core product is an open-source mobile app server platform. According to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week, it has secured $5.35 million of a planned $10 million Series B. Return backers in the financing include HIG Ventures and Walden Ventures. Funambol is based in Redwood City, California. The article does not disclose revenue, user metrics, or specific future plans.

Led · Equity · Sep 2010

Blyk creates SMS and MMS mobile messages that combine information, entertainment and exclusive offers for opt-in users aged 16–24. It works with mobile operators to deliver campaigns and already partners with Orange and Vodafone. The company reports average response rates of 25% in each market it operates in. Blyk plans to use the new funding to accelerate strategic partnering with mobile operators and to expand. In 2009 Blyk shifted away from a direct UK service in favor of an operator-partnering model. The €17 million equity investment is intended to further strengthen its position in the fast-growing mobile advertising field. Blyk is a mobile virtual network operator that offers a free mobile service for 16–24 year olds funded by targeted advertising. The service sends targeted adverts to users' handsets as its revenue model. Blyk launched in the UK late last year and plans to expand into the Netherlands and other European markets. The company piggybacks on Vodafone's network for service delivery. It was founded by Pekka Ala-Pietilä and Antti Ohrling. Investors in its latest undisclosed round include Goldman Sachs, the Industrial and Financial Investments Company (IFIC), Sofinnova Partners, and private backers.