Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israeli start-up Amobee Media Systems Inc. recently closed its second financing round. The company’s existing investors, Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners participated in the round, and were joined by Globespan Capital Partners.
Amobee and the venture capital funds declined to disclose the amount of the round, but industry sources told “Globes” that it totaled $15-20 million. The sources added that quite a few leading Israeli venture capital funds wanted to invest in Amobee, which is considered one of Israel’s more promising start-ups.
Amobee was founded in 2005 under the name Upsteed, and raised $5 million from Sequoia and Accel less than a year ago. The company is developing a revolutionary cellular advertising system that aims at cutting costs for end-users.
Amobee recently completed successful trials with some leading international cellular operators. Amobee co-founder and CEO Zohar Levkovitz declined to disclose their names. He predicts that the company will start seeing revenue next year. The successful trials demonstrated that users are prepared to be exposed to advertisements on their mobile telephones, in exchange for lower service charges.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the companies that participated in the trial included France Telecom (NYSE; Paris: FTE) and Vodafone Group plce (NYSE; LSE:VOR). On the ads side, participating companies included Adidas AG (XETRA:ADS; LSE:ADI), Unilever plc (NYSE: UL; LSE; XETRA: ULVR), Canon (NYSE: CAJ; JSE: 7751) and Vodafone.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 4, 2007
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