There are literally hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPad and Android apps to choose from, and yet finding good apps is far from easy. App discovery and recommendations is a fertile niche where a few startups are fighting for mindshare. After being downloaded more than 2 million times, app discovery startup Appsfire closed a $3.6 million series A, led by French VC firm IDinvest. (Appsfire is based in Paris and Tel Aviv, and was co-founded by Ouriel Ohayon, who used to be the editor of TechCrunch France).

Appsfire crossed 1 million downloads in February, and then the 2-million mark in May. Ohayon says its various apps for the iPhone, Android, iPad, and kid’s apps is generating 3 million leads to app developers each month. Appsfire lets you share your favorite apps with your friends via the web, your mobile device, or Facebook.

Previously, in February, 2010, company raised a seed round from a group of French angel investors including Marc Simoncini (CEO of dating site meetic.com), Jacques-Antoine Granjon (CEO of Vente-Privee.com), Xavier Niel (CEO of French ISP Free), and entrepreneur and angel investor Jean-David Blanc, as well as Lerer Ventures.

Crunchbase

• APPSFIRE

Company: AppsFire

Website: appsfire.com

Launch Date: January 1, 2009

Funding: $4.6M

AppsFire is a leading promotion and discovery platform for mobile apps (iOS and Android) helping users finding apps and helping developers marketing better their apps. Appsfire edits a set of mobile guides for the app store that helps users find apps in a fun, visual, personal way Appsfire edits unique and highly efficient ad units specific for the promotion of mobile apps.

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