Carrier IQ secures Series C funding
New $20m funding round sees Intel Capital and Presidio Ventures join investors -Supports further expansion and development
Jan 27 2009: Carrier IQ, the leader in Mobile Service Intelligence solutions for wireless carriers and equipment vendors, today confirmed that despite the adverse prevailing financial market conditions, the company had completed a significant new round of funding, raising $20 million and also attracting key strategic investors including Intel Capital and Presidio Ventures, a Sumitomo Corporation Company.
With this recent financing round, Carrier IQ’s vision of using data directly from the mobile handset to drive improvements in mobile service performance and usability has been backed both by its existing investors and new strategic investors. This third stage funding round will significantly fuel expansion and product development.
Announcing the investment, Carrier IQ CEO Mark Quinlivan said: “To raise $20 million in the current financial climate is a solid endorsement of the company’s success to date and the potential for future growth and expansion in the Mobile Service Intelligence market.”
“Even in these tough economic times, Carrier IQ is able to continue investing in our product development and geographical expansion,” he added.
Carrier IQ provides both mobile network operators and handset manufacturers with vital information on mobile voice and data service performance as delivered to each end user and the overall customer experience. Carrier IQ software, which consists of embedded software on mobile devices and server-side analytics applications, enables mobile operators and device OEMs to understand in detail a wide range of performance and usage characteristics of mobile services and devices. These include both network-facing services such as core voice and data offerings, as well as non-network-facing capabilities such as music players, cameras and other side loaded media, in order to assist with product and service development and roll-out.
Quinlivan noted, “By providing much more detail to operators and handset companies about their customers’ actual user experiences, we can help the operators and handset companies improve their overall product and service offerings.”
“In these challenging economic times, it will become increasingly critical for handset companies and operators alike to make precise investment decisions on rolling out new user services and features. The more you know about your customers’ needs, the more able you are to retain these customers and grow their usage by delivering high quality targeted services,” added Quinlivan.
“Intel Capital is delighted to support Carrier IQ as the company moves to the next stage of its development,” said Sriram Viswanathan, Vice President of Intel Capital and General Manager, WiMAX Program Office. “The ability to differentiate services offered to end-users is critically important in the mobile market. The Carrier IQ solution gives service providers an edge to offer enhanced services to customers.”
“Presidio Ventures is pleased to have completed an investment in Carrier IQ,” said Tom Kato, President and CEO. “With operators wishing to further enhance the quality, performance and coverage of their services, Carrier IQ’s solution delivers the precise information needed to maximize service quality and return on investment. We believe this capability to monitor performance in detail will become an essential part of mobile service delivery in the future.”
Quinlivan confirmed that the additional funding would help Carrier IQ to strengthen its geographical reach in both Europe and Asia Pacific. It will also help the company develop new products within its IQ Insight application suite. These products are based on Carrier IQ’s state-of the-art Mobile Service Intelligence Platform “MSIP” to deliver true actionable intelligence tailored to specific business areas, such as the new data card analyzer product announced in the second half of 2008.
Quinlivan also expects to confirm partnership agreements to embed the company’s software in more handsets and networks in 2009. The company’s software already sits on some 35 million mobile handsets worldwide.
