Phunware, a U.S. tech startup based in Austin, Texas, raised $22 M earlier this month from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia.
Khazanah is not a stranger to investing in companies beyond the Malaysian borders; it has also invested in companies in China, India, and Turkey to name a few. Phunware — a Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS) platform provider that “allows brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide” — finished its Series F fundraising totaling $50M. Since its founding in 2009, the firm has raised $90M.
Phunware Co-Founder and CEO Alan S. Knitowski explained;
“Since our inception in 2009, Phunware has been uniquely leading the way in mobile innovation. We are the only mobile, native and fully-integrated-first multiscreen cloud platform in the world and our MaaS platform products and solutions currently power more than 40 billion mobile user events every month and more than 1 trillion transactions annually. This funding will help turn every one of our global application touch points into an opportunity to reach, engage with and convert users on a 1:1 basis, and will further our vision of having every device in the Internet of Things touch the Phunware platform by 2020.”
Deloitte recognized Phunware as one of the 2016 Technology Fast 500 companies, which is “an annual ranking of the fastest growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, and energy tech sectors.” Phunware ranks number 165 on the list (full list below). According to Deloitte;
“Awardees are selected for this honor based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2012 to 2015. Overall, 2016 Technology Fast 500 companies achieved revenue growth ranging from 121 percent to 66,661 percent in the 2012 to 2015 time frame, with a median growth of 290 percent.”
Principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP and Leader of US Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Sandra Shirai also added;
“Our personal and professional lives are shifting in response to new technologies and business models that are changing the way we work and live. The 2016 Technology Fast 500 winners are supporting this shift by creating experiences for their customers, surpassing expected possibilities, and helping to envision even more effective and ingenious solutions.”
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