Appboy, a marketing automation company for mobile apps has raised $15 million in Series B funding, in a round the company says was “oversubscribed.” Early Marketo investor InterWest Partners led the round, and is joined by existing investors Icon Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, T5 Capital and IDG Ventures.
As a part of the new funding, InterWest General Partner Doug Pepper, whose background includes time spent working with Flurry, Optimizely, Tapjoy and Spredfast, will join Appboy’s board.
The funding comes on the heels of last year’s $7.6 million Series A, and brings Appboy’s total raise to date to $22.6 million.
The company, by way of background, offers app publishers a suite of tools to engage mobile users, understand their app users’ demographics, then target them accordingly through in-app messages, push notifications and email. Its goal is not to focus on user acquisition, but instead on keeping the users after they arrive. That’s proving to be a difficult challenge for mobile publishers, as the leading app stores now top over a million apps each, and end users seem to have developed a relationship with apps where the majority are seen as disposable – or worse, are merely just forgotten, abandoned on distant homescreens.
Appboy says its company has seen 210% growth in its customer base since the beginning of this year, and now touts a line-up that includes well-known names like LifeLock, Shutterfly, USA Today Sports and Urban Outfitters.
The additional funding will be put toward sales and marketing, says Appboy.