History
InMobi started in 2007, when it was known as ''mKhoj'' (mobile khoj), providing SMS-basedFinancing
The first round of funding of US$500 000 InMobi (then mKhoj) was from Mumbai Angels in August 2006. After rebranding the company from mKhoj to InMobi, they received Series A funding of US$7.1 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2008, and Series B funding to the tune of US$8 Million in 2010. In 2011, the start-up raised US$200 million from Softbank. The investment was doled out in two tranches — US$100 million in 2011 and the rest in 2012.Acquisitions and partnerships
* In August 2011, InMobi acquired US-based mobile advertising solutions provider Sprout, which was backed by Polaris Partners. Sprout, which provided the platform for creating HTML5 rich media advertising, was renamed InMobi Studio in 2012. * InMobi had partnered with Amobee, end-to-end mobile advertising solutions and services provider for a span of three years during which the company ran campaigns via InMobi's ad network. * In July 2012, InMobi acquired MMTG Labs, a San Francisco-based start-up that operates Facebook apps marketplace Appbistro as well as white label app distribution platform AppGalleries. Per TechCrunch, the new platform AppGallery was the reason for InMobi acquisition of MMTG. * Post-MMTG acquisition, InMobi acquired Metaflow Solutions, a mobile app management and distribution company in the same year. This provides InMobi another platform to reach out to independent app developers and publishers. * In September 2015, InMobi entered aMobile advertising
The primary focus of InMobi has been on mobile advertising. The company's platform aims to bring together publishers and advertisers to provide relevant, personalised and Contextual advertising, contextual advertisements to a user visiting the mobile app or website. Since the company's switch from an SMS-based search engine to an advertising platform, they have made several product announcements. The company started with simple text-based ads and has moved to include other ad formats such as video and native ads, including conventional ad formats such as interstitial and banner ads. The company also provides a Software Development Kit (SDK) for mobile app creators who wish to integrate InMobi's advertising within their app. In 2014, InMobi launched their native advertising and interactive video advertising platforms. InMobi has tied up with over 30,000 app developers, across verticals of gaming, social, news, utility, entertainment among others to help them monetize their apps using mobile advertising.Native advertising
InMobi launched their native advertising platform in 2014. Native advertising mimics the environment in which the ad is displayed thereby making it less intrusive to the end consumer. Several advertising players had been increasing their focus on native ads to preserve the user experience on publishers’ websites and mobile apps by mimicking the environment in which they're displayed. This form of advertising also curtails the adoption of ad blockers as the ads are unobtrusive. InMobi features 80 of the top 100 AdAge brands on their network, through which it provides a huge database for publishers to use their native advertising platform to monetise users.Discovery-commerce, re-marketing and Miip
InMobi launched a new platform called Miip in 2015. The platform brought together advertisers and publishers in a bid to spark excitement among online shoppers. It also enabled them to discover new products using the concept of re-marketing. The remarketing platform enables app developers and marketers to retarget existing users across InMobi's global ad network and exchange by implementing a mobile growth strategy across the entire conversion funnel. The remarketing platform helps advertisers nudge users to make their first purchase, re-target existing users to drive incremental sales and re-activate dormant mobile users. The platform increases in-app conversions by analysis based on in-app behavior, purchase history, and other personalized attributes.Awards and recognition
* InMobi won the ‘NDTV Indian of the Year' award in 2016 * InMobi was ranked 15th on the ‘World's Top 50 Innovative Companies 2016’ by Fast Company, a US-based business magazine. InMobi was also the number one company from India on the list ranked at 15th * InMobi was featured amongst The Economic Times ‘India's best workplaces of 2016’ for workplace culture transformation. InMobi was amongst the ‘50 Disruptive companies 2013’ list by MIT Technology Review * InMobi won the bronze award in the category Enabling Technologies, Location based Advertising by Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Global Smarties Awards 2015 in partnership with Unilever and Mindshare *InMobi named one among Fast Company- The World's Most Innovative Companies, 2016. *InMobi named on CNBC Disruptor 50 list for 2018. *InMobi named one among Fast Company- The World's Most Innovative Companies, 2018. *InMobi named on CNBC Disruptor 50 list for 2019.Criticism
According to sources, InMobi laid off approximately 10 per cent of its workforce in April 2016, due to the company reeling under losses of US$45.5 million in 2014-15 and US$40.91 million in 2015–16 in a bid to show profitability. The company also saw major attrition in their senior management during this phase. InMobi has refuted the claims, by stating that they added 184 full employees in 2016 and their voluntary attrition rates are lower than the industry average with 80% of the executive team at InMobi has an average tenure of more than four years.References
External links
* {{SoftBank Indian companies established in 2007 Software companies of India Outsourcing companies Companies based in Bangalore Softbank portfolio companies 2007 establishments in Karnataka