WiFi locator co WeFi raises $10m led by Time Warner

WiFi locator application developer WeFi Ltd. has secured $10 million of a $15 million financing round led by Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TMX), joined by current investors Pitango Venture Capital and Lightspeed Ventures. The company has raised $27 million to date.

WeFi was founded in 2006 by the father and son team of Shimon and Tamir Schertzer with the support of Yossi Vardi. Zur Feldman is the chairman. The company's application uses crowd sourcing to notify users where WiFi hook-ups are available. When a user succeeds in getting online from a particular WiFi location, the application automatically hooks up other users in the area to that access point. The company has 40 employees.

WeFi's says on its website that its users have mapped more than 116 million WiFi access points worldwide.

Time Warner's investment in WeFi is due to its interest in cable and communications infrastructures. "They have a strategic interest in wireless networks, and we fit in to this strategy," says Feldman. Time Warner has a great many customers for content services, which it offers via wireless communications to their homes or other viewing points.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 22, 2012