Mobile Data Firm zeotap Raises Expansion Funds

Berlin-based mobile user data specialist zeotap has raised $6.4m in a Series A round of funding, which it will use to drive international growth plans and to expand its technology centre in Bangalore, India.

Launched last November by a team who previously worked at Vodafone, IBM and mobile ad tech firm Fyber, zeotap has developed a platform to help telecom operators draw out mobile customer data, for use in ad targeting. The firm is based in Germany, with additional operations in India and the US.

New funding comes from Capnamic Ventures, Iris Capital and existing investors, along with angels investors including Michael Halbherr, the former CEO of Nokia's recently sold location analytics division HERE; Steffen Roehn, former CIO of Deutsche Telekom Group and T-Mobile International; Devin Guan, co-founder and CTO of Drawbridge and previously a founding member of AdMob's optimization team (acquired by Google); and Peter Scheufen, previously CEO of Skobbler.

A portion of the new funds will be used to expand the company's operations in India, where it has recruited Ameya Agnihotri as Vice President of Engineering. Agnihotri was previously VP Technology at mobile ad platform Airpush. Projjol Banerjea, zeotap's co-founder and Chief Product Officer, will move to Bangalore to oversee the company's growth across the continent.

Co-founder and CEO Daniel Heer (pictured) says of the funding: 'We're simultaneously invigorated and humbled by the quality of investors we've attracted just a year into zeotap's development. It's a resounding vote of confidence in the overall value proposition and potential as well as our achievements to date'.

Web site: www.zeotap.com .