SoonR, a backup service focused on enabling access to your files from mobile devices, has raised $9.5M from Cisco Systems in a Series B round of financing. This brings the total funding for this two-year-old company up to $15.5M.
SoonR synchs your files to cloud storage via a downloadable client that runs in the background of both Macs and PCs. When you’re on the go, you can access these files with the web browser in your mobile phone. While the user interface served up will be tailored to the capabilities of your phone, the functionality will always be the same; you can view, print, share, and fax files. You can also a browse backup copies of your emails and talk on Skype.
In September 2006, we wrote about how SoonR had partnered with WebEx (since bought by Cisco for $3.2 billion) so that WebEx conferences could be accessed via SoonR on the mobile. This recent round of funding should help forge even greater connections between SoonR and Cisco’s technologies.
If you’re an American, you would be forgiven for not having heard of SoonR since the company has primarily sought user adoption in Europe. It has partnered with many European carriers such as TeliaSonera of Denmark. CEO Patrick McVeigh says that European carriers are more willing to adopt features like SoonR because there is more competition among them, and issues like coverage – a major topic of advertising here in the states – have already been solved. He expects the United States to reach the point of where Europe is currently at in this respect by around 2009.
You can sign up for a free version of SoonR through its website, but you’ll have to pay a premium through a carrier if you want more than 100mb of storage. McVeigh says that despite SoonR’s focus on the mobile access of files, 60 to 80% of usage is still through the PC browser, suggesting that it serves as a decent all-purpose backup solution as well.