Cellfish Media Buys Mobile App Publisher Airborne Mobile

Robin Wauters

Robin Wauters is the European Editor of tech blog The Next Web and lead editor of Virtualization.com. He was a senior staff writer at TechCrunch until his departure in February 2012. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in... → Learn More

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

Cellfish Media, a major provider of mobile services and marketing solutions, this morning announced that it has acquired mobile app publisher Airborne Mobile.

The newly formed Airborne Studios will combine Cellfish Media’s original-content publishing activities with Airborne Mobile’s distribution of branded mobile content and applications.

According to the press release, the new entity will focus on creating and distributing branded mobile content and applications for high-usage value, including football-league apps, Family Guy, CollegeHumor, Betty Boop and FHM.

Airborne Studios will boast a content catalog of roughly 35,000 pieces of content through 110 licensing partners. Airborne’s mobile applications have been downloaded approximately 4 million times – across 20 distribution outlets including app stores and carrier partners – and the company has seen about 40 million downloads of its graphics, music and games.

Airborne’s former CEO, Garner Bornstein, will move on and henceforth focus on its newest venture, Txt TV, an interactive television network.

Funny sidenote: this is the second time Bornstein has sold Airborne, which he co-founded with Andy Nulman. In June of 2005, 85% of the company was sold to Japanese company Cybird for $90 million, only to be bought back by the two original founders of the company three years later.

Company: Airborne Mobile
Funding: $5M

Airborne Mobile publishes mobile entertainment content and applications including games, images, ringtones, ringbacktones and informational content. It publishes on all the major phone carriers as well as a variety of independents. They were acquired in 2005 by Cybird, however in July 2008 they orchestrated a management buy-out to regain the company from Cybird.

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Company: Cellfish
Website: cellfish.com
Launch Date: 2004
Funding: $60M

Cellfish designs and develops innovative mobile and social applications, focused on delivering high-value and engaging experiences to music, sports and entertainment fans. Since 2004, the company has been creating and distributing original and licensed content and applications through its own marketing network, as well as through partnerships with the leading operators, media companies and app stores. Cellfish reaches millions of fans around the world through Cellfish Studios, offering sports- and entertainment-focused mobile content and applications, and Bandsintown, a top-rated...

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