Swiss mobile cloud-based field service app maker Coresystems has raised $15.5 million in Series A funding — its first external funding round, despite being founded in 2002. The investment comes from a consortium of private Swiss investors and well-known German tech investor Peter Zencke, a former SAP executive board member and head of research and development.
Coresystems says the new funding will be used to accelerate product enhancements and business development and sales efforts to meet “growing demand” for its mobile cloud apps and software products, which help both small and large companies manage and deliver customer service out in the field.
Appboy, a company that helps mobile app marketers better retain users and keep them engaged, is today announcing $7.6 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Icon Venture Partners, and saw participation from new investors IDG Ventures, and Mike Lazerow, founder of Buddy Media. Existing seed investors, including Blumberg Capital, Accelerator Ventures, Bullpen Capital and T5 Capital, also participated.
The company has raised a total of $7.6 million. However, in addition to the $5.1 million in Series A funding, Appboy previously raised $2.5 million via convertible note seed financings, which have now converted.
New airline bag tags that can be programmed with a mobile phone could make those sticky strips of paper a thing of the past — and maybe even prevent a painful separation between you and your bag. Airlines around the globe are keen to dispense with the bar-coded thermal paper tags they print by the billions and loop onto your luggage.
That adhesive paper is expensive, and the codes don’t keep millions of bags from being lost each year. Worldwide, about 1% of luggage was mishandled last year, costing an estimated $2.6 billion, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The multitude of interested stakeholders attempting to break into novel mobile payments (m-payments) markets is holding up the creation of common standards, a leading standards body representative has admitted.
M-payments describe many already existing payments methods, including so-called "digital wallets" which includes software platforms to consumers' existing banking cards and facilities, and other distinct payments services.
Venture capitalists invested $1.12 billion to U.S. mobile companies in last quarter, making it the biggest venture capital financing quarter in history for this sector.
Q3 also had the highest number of mobile deals ever in a quarter, and it was the first time mobile VC deal share eclipsed the healthcare sector, according to a study by CB Insights.
There are quite a few startups attacking the tour guide app space which, as well as packaging the traditional (paper) guidebook into a handy app form, are more generally trying to bridge the connectivity gap that tourists face when they take their phone abroad and don’t want to be burnt by roaming costs (e.g. Triposo or PocketGuide).
Locket, the Android app that pays you (in tiny amounts) just for unlocking your smartphone, is today launching a toolkit for app developers that will allow them to publish their own content to users’ lock screens. That means when users see ads for apps on their phone’s screen, they can open up the app itself with just a swipe, similar to how a push notification works.
Lithuanian startup TRAFI is announcing a seed funding round of $500,000 U.S. today, provided by Practica Capital. In addition to the funding, former Nokia Maps chief Sylvain Grande is joining the board, and the company hopes to pursue a strategy of aggressive expansion in key markets not well covered by leading players like Google.
TRAFI already reaches over 300,000 unique users monthly in its launch market in Lithuania, providing commuters and travelers there with journey planning that seamlessly combines public transit, taxi, bicycle routes and walking, offering suggestions as to which modes will be most convenient and most expedient given real-time traffic information.
Euskara hizkuntza ziurtagiri ezberdinetako azterketak prestatzeko tresna erabilgarria da hau. Maria Amutxastegik eta Jaione Martinezek garatu dute, Euskara ikasiz proiektuaren baitan.
Asthmapolis has a GPS sensor for inhalers that uses a Bluetooth radio so people with asthma can track where and when they needed help breathing. CleverCap attaches to pill bottles, flashes and beeps when it’s time to take medication, and then, using Wi-Fi and cellular networks, reports to the Internet whether the pills were taken. The Garmin heart-rate monitor straps across the chest and digitally communicates beeps and blips with yet another wireless protocol, called ANT-plus.
