New York Mobile Startup bMobilized Lands $2.5 Million in Additional Series A Funding from Three Top Nordic VCs

NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile technology startup bMobilized (http://bMobilized.com) today announced an additional $2.5 million in Series A funding from Norway's Alliance Venture, Investinor and Alden AS, which together had invested $1.5 million in the New York startup last April.

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bMobilized's cloud-based do-it-yourself technology platform lets small and medium businesses instantly convert their websites into customizable HTML5-enabled mobile sites that look and work great on any mobile device, OS and browser.  The current technology platform, which launched in May, now works in eight languages and costs just $9/month including set-up and maintenance.

Both Alliance Venture and Investinor specialize in privately held, early stage technology companies seeking to expand internationally. Alden AS is a well-known and successful Oslo-based venture capital company that invests in a range of industry sectors. They are pleased to continue their support of the bMobilized team given the size and growth of the market, the company's patented technology and its 400% growth in customers since May.

The additional funding will allow bMobilized to invest in resources to better capitalize on current market momentum and further develop its end-to-end solutions platform to help SMBs better engage mobile customers. This will include overseas market expansion, new feature-rich functions, an API for large-volume partners and a pure white label solution.

"The confidence these investors have shown in bMobilized is further validation that our technology and unique market position can meet the explosive demand from SMBs to jump on the mobile bandwagon," said bMobilized CEO Ben Seslija. "Our platform makes it simple for businesses to accomplish this once complex and costly task."

The business need for a service like this is clear when one considers that the number of smartphones in use worldwide totaled 1.03 billion in Q3 2012, a 47 percent increase from Q3 2011. By 2015, that number is predicted to double to 2 billion, according to research by Five Star Equities. U.S. smartphone ownership reached 51% in September (119.3 million users), up 8% since June according to ComScore.

Still, an SMB DigitalScape study of two million small business websites  found that 98% of SMBs still do not have sites optimized for the dominant mobile operating systems: Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows and Symbian.

Under development for more than two years, bMobilized's patented technology produces a mobile experience that better reflects the original website's graphic look and feel -- with more functionality -- than any other mobile conversion technology available today. The Automatic Content Identifier (ACI), contains more than 300 algorithms to analyze, detect and convert all parts of a website into an HTML5 mobile version in less than 30 seconds.

The technology also offers more than 30 individually customizable features that enhance mobile engagement, e.g., a contact bar, maps, social sharing buttons, product promo window on home page, etc. bMobilized also makes it easy for companies to promote and market their products and services via Google AdWords, QR Codes, and in-app ads. The mobile site requires little or no maintenance.

About bMobilized
Headquartered at 670 Broadway in New York City, bMobilized (http://bMobilized.com) is a global pioneer in DIY website-to-mobile conversion that offers small and medium businesses the most advanced, easy-to-use and cost-effective mobile site creation tools in the marketplace. The company was founded in 2005 in Oslo, Norway and relocated to New York in 2010 where it currently has 15 full-time employees.

About Alliance Venture
Alliance Venture (http://www.allianceventure.com) is a venture capital firm managing venture funds investing in privately held, early stage technology companies. Total funds under management are 430 MNOK (about $75 million).

Alliance Venture was formed in 2001 by a team of experienced executives with a good balance between operations and business, applied research, entrepreneurial and financial background that enables efficient investment evaluations and active follow-up. This is supported by a network of strategic partners who contribute with know-how, deal flow, due-diligence, co-investments and partnerships for the firm's portfolio companies.

About Investinor
Investinor is a government-funded investment company. It invests venture capital into highly competitive and promising Norwegian companies aiming for international growth and expansion. Investinor manages NOK 3.7 billion (mEuro 460) under a mandate from the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) and invests on the same terms and conditions as private investors, with a clear exit strategy for all investments.

Investinor is one of the major venture investment companies in Norway, both in terms of manpower and capital under management. Its team has a superior overview of the market and attracts high quality dealflow. Investinor's team is a value adding mixture of engineers and business professionals with industrial and entrepreneurial experience.

Alden AS
Alden is a private investment company based in Oslo, Norway. It invests in a range of asset classes across many industry sectors. Since its inception, Alden has had a strong focus on venture capital investments to which, in addition to providing capital, offers access to the firm's comprehensive network of resources. The company often co-invests with several of the leading venture capital firms in the Nordic region.

Contact:
Peter Himler
Flatiron Communications LLC (for bMobilized)
[email protected]
Google Voice: 516-308-1120

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SOURCE bMobilized