Companies that test, analyze and preview mobile applications were big winners with venture capital firms in October. According to a Rutberg & Co. report on venture capital financing, 91 mobile companies received $360 million in VC financing in October. Of those, application infrastructure firms received approximately $76 million.
Netbiscuits was by far the biggest winner, securing $27 million in funding. Perfecto Mobile, which handles app testing, attracted $15 million. (Some companies announced venture investments in October but did not disclose dollar amounts.)
Investors included traditional and early stage venture capital firms such as Accel Partners and Andreesen Horowitz, corporations including American Express, Google Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures and notable individual angel investors.
Here is a breakdown of the mobile application infrastructure firms that received early stage financing in October. We've listed them in order from most funding to least funding.
♦ $27 million: Netbiscuits makes software for adaptive Web development that allows companies to glean contextual data from the device profile, OS and browser. It also provides real-time information on features like touch capabilities and GPS.
♦ $15 million: Perfecto Mobile makes a mobile enterprise application testing platform that tests smartphones and tablets in real-time all via the cloud.
♦ $8 million: Branding Brand powers mobile commerce sites and apps for retailers such as American Eagle Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, Ralph Lauren and Sephora.
♦ $6 million: Vestec leveraged artificial intelligence to create a speech recognition technology that reduces deployment costs and reduces time to market.
♦ $4 million: Freespee offers location-based click-to-call advertising and analytics for enterprises and businesses that want to shift their ad spend from desktop to mobile.
♦ $3 million: Quickmobile makes mobile apps for meetings and events. Clients include Hallmark, Accenture and Scripps.
♦ $3 million: Appconomy operates a cloud-based platform for mobile marketing and commerce that connects consumers and merchants.
♦ $2 million: AppBuilder has created a content management system to help its clients independently develop and manage their apps.
♦ $2 million: Catavolt is a cloud-based software provider that provides customers with access to real-time data via a simple user interface.
♦ $2 million: Appia is an app store that delivers app downloads to more than 500 million users around the world..
♦ $1 million: Helpshift is an embeddable support desk designed specifically for native apps.
♦ Less than $1 million: M.dot is a free app that allows users to build a mobile website from scratch or a mobile version of their existing website.
♦ Less than $1 million: Mobicart turns your e-commerce store into an m-commerce app. Offer your products on a range of mobile devices.
♦ Less than $1 million: Heatma.ps is a lightweight iOS framework installed in an app that tracks individual parts of the app to collect touches, gestures and device interactions.