Softbank, which owns 1/3 of of Bangalore-based mobile ad network InMobi, has infused $5 million into it and is promising to inject $25 million more to bring new investors on board help make the firm profitable and help quicken its journey to its IPO in the next two years.
Launched seven years ago by Abhay Singhal, Amit Gupta, Naveen Tewari and Mohit Saxena as an SMS chat app then later a mobile-search engine to what it is now, InMobi says it reaches 872 million unique devices around the world with targeted ads in formarts such as banners, videos and native content.
InMobi serves clients such as Adidas, Microsoft, Macy’s, Yamaha Motor among others.