mFormation

mFormation snags $9M fourth round

Mobile device management firm mFormation Technologies today secured $9 million in fourth round financing. The round was led by Intel Capital with participation from previous investors including Battery Ventures, Carmel Ventures, Kingdon Capital, and North Bridge Venture Partners. MFormation's technology allows carriers to manager handsets and devices running on their networks through over-the-air (OTA) updates and through device service management software. The company's solution can work on a number of mobile devices, including Symbian, Microsoft, Palm, BlackBerry, and OMA DM compliant cell phones, as well as on a variety of networks including GSM/GPRS, CDMA, and UMTS. MFormation has raised a total of almost $35 million to date.

The mobile management space has not taken off as expected. It's a rather small market w/ a few leaders, namely Sybase, Xcellenet (middleware), and now Wavelink with the acquisition of AirPrism.

mFormation's initial customer targets were enterprises, but now having switched over to target carriers, the company seems to have better positioned themselves.