Ontela Scores Funding, Partners

Seattle-based Ontela, a mobile software firm, announced today it has received new funding from Eastven Venture Partners, a VC firm that is the successor to Ericsson Venture Partners. The amount was not disclosed. In an interview, Ontela CEO Dan Shapiro said the company also has signed deals with four of the top five handset makers to pre-install its software (Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and another to be announced this week). Ontela makes software that automatically sends pictures from your camera phone to your e-mail inbox or computer.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.