Google Inc is said to be in early talks to buy Bangalore based mobile advertising network and one of India’s earliest startup posterboys , In-Mobi. This acquisition will strengthen Google’s offering in the increasingly competitive mobile advertising space and will be its first in India. This acquisition is alos being looked at as part of Google’s strategy to counter Facebook’s dominance in advertising on mobile devices.
The financial details of this deal are yet unclear, however InMobi had been looking for a valuation of over $2 billion (Rs 12,500 crore) in its discussions with investors for its next round of funding.
InMobi is a performance based mobile ad network backed by Soft Bank and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company was founded by Tewari (37) and fellow IIT-ians Amit Gupta, Mohit Saxena and Abhay Singhal in 2007 and today has offices in multiple countries.
InMobi aims at redefining mobile first customer-engagement platform through its suite of products ranging from app distribution & monetization to brand advertisements. With close to 759 million users across 160+ countries, InMobi serves billions of ads daily. With 350+ data scientists, engineers and analysts spread across the globe, InMobi continues to lead the industry in building architecturally superior mobile-first platforms. Its ability to challenge industry leaders such as Apple & Google and pioneering innovation in the ad space has enabled InMobi win a coveted spot in MIT Technology Review’s 50 most disruptive companies of 2013.
