Skyfire Labs, a leader in mobile video optimization and cloud solutions for mobility, today announced it has raised $8 million in its Series C financing. Verizon Investments LLC, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) participated in the round, alongside current investors Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Verizon’s investment was arranged by Verizon Ventures, which seeks promising entrepreneurial companies that complement Verizon networks and service platforms. Skyfire will use the funds to meet the demands of its growing list of wireless operator customers through increased engineering, sales and support resources, and also to expand into European and Asian markets.
"Wireless operators around the world are facing an explosion in mobile data on their networks, driven largely by mobile video,” said Andrew Verhalen, general partner at Matrix Partners. “Skyfire is well positioned with solutions for operators that can expand network capacity by over 25 percent, as well as generate incremental revenue.”
“Skyfire is poised to expand globally in 2012 after winning deployments with two tier-one operators in North America, and adding world-class international executive talent,” added Larry Orr, general partner at Trinity Ventures.
Concurrent with this latest financing, Skyfire has announced a new European footprint. John Rintoul has been named vice president of sales for Skyfire’s newly-opened EMEA office, based in London. Rintoul previously led sales with the Vodafone account for Cisco’s Mobile Internet Technology Group, and prior to that, was a sales executive at Starent Networks, Juniper Networks, and Kagoor Networks. Skyfire also announces Scott Boehmer has been named vice president of sales for Americas. Boehmer previously was vice president of sales for SEVEN networks, and a product executive at Sprint. Both regional leads will now report to Skyfire’s SVP Global Sales, Jason Guesman.
“Skyfire’s Rocket Optimizer product is delivering an average of 60 percent savings for operators on video bandwidth,” said Jeff Glueck, CEO of Skyfire. “We welcome the participation of Verizon, which is renowned for its network planning sophistication.”
Rocket Optimizer 2.0, the latest iteration of Skyfire’s powerful carrier-grade network video and data optimization platform, was launched in October 2011. With mobile video demand expected to rise steeply over the next three years, Rocket 2.0 aims to help carriers solve capacity issues linked to the rapid rise of mobile video streaming. The solution offers real-time optimization of mobile video to enable smoother streaming, and can be applied to specific cell towers or backhaul regions as soon as congestion is detected. Rocket Optimizer 2.0 also offers the broadest support for video formats, including the world’s first instant MP4 optimization (which comprises more than 50 percent of today’s mobile video, including most HTML5 and iOS video). By leveraging cloud computing power, Skyfire’s solution is highly cost effective to scale on both 3G and 4G LTE networks.
Full details about the Rocket 2.0 platform can be found here: http://www.skyfire.com/en/for-operators
Skyfire also offers the Rocket Toolbar product line, a fully customizable web-based operator portal embedded in the default browser of new smartphones. The Rocket Toolbar adds value for users on every page of the Internet by making browsing more social, facilitating app discovery, m-commerce, and quick access to news updates. The Rocket Toolbar has been selected by a tier one North American carrier for upcoming deployment, and is in numerous trials across the U.S. and Europe.
Full details about the Rocket Toolbar platform can be found here: http://www.skyfire.com/en/for-operators/rocket-toolbar
Skyfire will continue to maintain its consumer app business as a showcase and laboratory for its technology. Skyfire apps across Apple iOS® and Google Android® devices have been downloaded by over 12 million users.
To learn more about Skyfire, visit: www.skyfire.com
About Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital firm with over $2 billion of committed capital under management. Lightspeed’s investment professionals and advisors are located in Silicon Valley, China, India and Israel. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed more than 150 companies, many of which have become leaders in their respective markets, including Blue Nile, Brocade, Calista, Ciena, DoubleClick, eHealth, Galileo Technology, Growth Networks, Informatica, Kiva Software, LightLogic, Maker Communications, Metasolv, Openwave, Quantum Effect Devices, Riverbed, Sirocco, Virsa Systems and Waveset.
About Matrix Partners
Matrix Partners is a premier venture capital firm that has generated outstanding returns for more than three decades. By focusing on early-stage investments and emphasizing long-term relationships with entrepreneurs, the firm has delivered several of the industry's top performing funds of all time. Matrix Partners has offices in Cambridge and Waltham, MA; New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA; Mumbai, India; and Beijing and Shanghai, China. Matrix Partners has invested in several game-changing, industry-leading businesses such as Apple Computer, Gilt Groupe, JBoss, Netezza, Phone.com, Polyvore, Starent Networks, Sycamore Networks, Veritas, Zendesk, and Zong.
About Trinity Ventures
Founded in 1986, Trinity Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm dedicated to partnering with passionate entrepreneurs to transform revolutionary ideas into reality. With over $1 billion under management, Trinity Ventures believes in personal engagement, mutual respect and goal alignment with the entrepreneurs. Trinity focuses on early stage and seed technology investments with particular emphasis on social shopping and entertainment, cloud computing, mobility, and internet infrastructure areas.
Trinity Ventures has invested in such leading companies as Aruba Networks, 21Vianet, Blue Nile, LoopNet, Photobucket, SciQuest, Starbucks, BeachMint, Infoblox, Trion Worlds and Zulily.
About Verizon Ventures
Verizon Ventures arranges investments in promising entrepreneurial companies to drive innovation in Verizon Communications Inc. The portfolio arranged by Verizon Ventures focuses on new products, technologies, applications and services that complement Verizon networks, service platforms and distribution channels. Deal size ranges from seed capital to $5 million depending on the needs and opportunities. Verizon Ventures often arranges investments with other venture firms and strategic partners.
About Skyfire:
Skyfire is dedicated to leveraging the power of cloud computing to improve radically the mobile Internet experience for both Operators and Consumers. Skyfire’s solutions provide game-changing cost savings, better end-user experiences, and compelling incremental revenue opportunities. Skyfire was recently recognized as no. 4 on Light Reading’s 2011 Startups to Watch list; and by OnMobile as a Top 100 Private Company. As both a laboratory and showcase for new capabilities, Skyfire has honed its technology through a variety of consumer apps, which have more than 12 million downloads to date.
Skyfire is based in Mountain View, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.skyfire.com, or follow Skyfire on Twitter at twitter.com/skyfire.
NOTE: Skyfire and Skyfire Rocket are trademarks of Skyfire Labs, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.