Mobile News: From Apperian to Zmags, Jumptap to Mitt Romney

Some interesting news tidbits in Boston-area mobile and marketing/ad tech today.

Zmags, the Boston-based mobile and social commerce company, has raised $7 million from Square 1 Bank and existing investors OpenView Venture Partners and Northcap Partners. Zmags makes a software platform to help brands and retailers design marketing and merchandising campaigns across mobile devices, tablets, and Web. The new money roughly doubles the amount Zmags has raised to date; the company expects to close an additional growth equity round this year. Last May, CEO Michael Schreck spoke with me about the firm’s transition from digital publishing to commerce, and about mobile marketing trends over the past decade.

Jumptap, the Cambridge, MA-based mobile advertising firm, has been working with Mitt Romney to create and run targeted campaign ads (at the zipcode level) for the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primaries. The company says Romney is the first candidate to run mobile ads in both sites. We’ll be watching to see how mobile technologies influence the upcoming presidential election.

Apperian, the Boston maker of a mobile-app platform for businesses, is powering AT&T’s new mobile application management product. The software helps companies and other organizations create, distribute, and manage secure mobile apps. Apperian has worked with AT&T for the past several years, but the new announcement could be an important validation of where Apperian stands in the market.

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.