KIRKLAND, Wash.-Wireless content and entertainment company Mforma Group Inc. announced it scored a whopping $44 million in venture funding in its first institutional round. General Catalyst Partners, eFund and Bessemer Venture Partners led the round.
The news comes on the heels of several major funding announcements from other wireless content and application companies, as well as numerous multimillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions. Such transactions highlight the rapidly increasing market for wireless content and applications, as well as the growing valuations for market contenders.
Mforma, founded in 2001, has to date grown through internal and private funds, said Robert Tercek, the company’s chief strategy officer. Mforma is now cash-flow positive and is growing by leaps and bounds, he said, and the $44 million in funding is indicative of its successes.
“That’s a fairly significant raise for a privately held company,” he said.
Other recent funding-raising news comes from Visto Corp., which raised an astounding $65 million, InphoMatch Inc., which raised $13.5 million; and M-Qube, which raised $8 million last year. Indeed, ring-tone company Xingtone Inc. announced just last week it scored a first round of institutional financing from Siemens Mobile Acceleration, although terms of the deal were not disclosed. Recent acquisitions include Mforma’s purchase of Korean gaming company MobileGame, THQ Wireless acquisition of Minick, Square Enix purchase of UIEvolution, InfoSpace Inc.’s acquisition of Moviso, Index Corp.’s Mobliss buy-and the list goes on.
And, Mforma’s Tercek said, the pace of acquisitions will likely heat up.
“The use of these ($44 million) proceeds will be earmarked for acquisitions,” he said. “This is an opportunity for Mforma to accelerate its growth.”
Tercek said Mforma is looking to become an international content player and will use local acquisitions to more quickly enter emerging markets. Tercek said Asia-especially China-represents a major opportunity for expansion through acquisitions, as well as India and Brazil.
“Mergers and acquisitions are a great way to expand our team,” Tercek commented.
