Encinitas, CA-based Verve Wireless, whose technology lets newspapers and other media companies publish their content and serve ads across a variety of mobile devices, says today it has raised $7 million in venture funding led by BlueRun Ventures of Menlo Park, CA.
The Associated Press news service, a previous investor in Verve, joined in the round with other existing investors. The AP also selected Verve’s wireless publishing platform for its AP Mobile News Network in 2008. Verve apparently launched its website about four years ago, and was offering its advertising-supported, multimedia news service on the Verizon Wireless network the following year, according to a statement in 2007. Verve now offers technology to distribute and manage news and targeted advertising across all mobile platforms, including iPhone and Android. Verve says its technology is used today by more than 750 leading media companies around the world.
Verve contends that mobile will become the dominant advertising and news channel for local media, and suggests its technology is becoming the dominant tool by citing a few statistics:
—About 7 million of Verve’s mobile news apps have been downloaded so far to mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Nokia, and Windows smart phones.
—More than 14 million readers used Verve’s mobile publishing platform to access news from mobile devices in July. The company says that was a 151 percent increase over the same period last year.
—During the same month, Verve says it served 150 million mobile news pages, a 105 percent increase year over year.
In addition to The Associated Press, Verve says its media partners include McClatchy Interactive, MediaNews Group, A.H. Belo Corp., Hearst Corp., Philly.com, Belo Corp., and Advance.net. The company’s mobile partners include Apple and Nokia, as well as carriers AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint.