Appboy, the leading platform for mobile relationship management (MRM), announces today it has raised $7.6 million in an oversubscribed Series A round of financing. The round was led by Icon Venture Partners, with participation from IDG Ventures and Mike Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media. Existing investors Blumberg Capital, T5 Capital, Bullpen Capital and Accelerator Ventures also participated. Co-founders Mark Ghermezian, Bill Magnuson and Jon Hyman plan to use the funds to build Appboy's sales and marketing team, expand product offerings and continue trailblazing the MRM category.

'Appboy has built an incredible team and its platform is an absolute necessity for mobile apps,' said Tom Peterson, Partner at Icon Venture Partners. 'With additional funds, Appboy will continue defining the future of mobile and extend its lead in MRM through 2014.'

Added Mike Lazerow, 'Mobile is experiencing the same momentum and going through the same pain points as social media did a few years ago. By creating a unified dashboard for managing mobile relationships, Appboy offers brands a turnkey solution to engage their audience and build a strong community.'
With the mobile ecosystem exploding to over 1 million apps in three years, app marketers are now faced with more challenges than ever before. The average app business struggles with high user acquisition costs and low retention rates, with a shocking 60% unable to break even. In response to growing competition and the fickle nature of mobile consumers, app marketers must radically shift their approach from buying ads and driving installs to managing their mobile audience.

Appboy presents a compelling solution to this challenge with the most complete, data-driven Mobile Relationship Management platform in the market. The platform automatically generates robust user profiles and empowers app marketers to further engage their audience with a suite of marketing automation products, including multi-channel messaging (push notifications, in-app messages, email), an industry-first in-app news feed and in-app customer support. A dedicated Success Squad staffed by mobile experts is also available to help ensure success, driving campaign conversion rates that regularly surpass 30%.
'Appboy's unparalleled team of mobile marketing and engagement experts took great care in helping us define an effective app strategy,' said Tricia Bertero, CMO of Text+. 'Our consistent interactions and their flexibility make it feel more like a partnership than a product purchase.'

With greater transparency into their mobile business and the right set of tools to get the job done, app marketers can now deliver more targeted and personalized experiences to their audience, resulting in higher engagement, retention and ROI.
Appboy has seen 400% growth in the last 9 months and now counts more than 1,000 clients, including Text+, Urban Outfitters, GSN, SnipSnap, Bloomberg, Shape and PopSci. The company will use its funding to expand its presence across industries, from retail and gaming to publishing and social networking.
To support its expansion, Appboy is launching a new visual identity and redesigned website. The company is also announcing new flexible pricing for smaller app developers, which supports its mission of helping apps to make the most of the mobile ecosystem.

'Engagement is the future of mobile,' says Mark Ghermezian, Appboy's CEO. 'With one of the smartest teams and the most powerful MRM platform in the industry, Appboy is in a leadership position for the coming year. As mobile takes over the world as the first screen, Appboy will be the company that powers mobile relationships.'

About Appboy:
Appboy is the leading platform for mobile relationship management. The company enables the world's brightest companies to manage the lifecycle of their users through a suite of marketing automation products and a team of mobile experts. In addition to user segmentation and location targeting, Appboy offers multi-channel messaging (push notifications, in-app messages, email), an in-app news feed and in-app customer support. Clients like Text+, Urban Outfitters, GSN, and PopSci use Appboy to increase engagement, reduce churn and build their mobile ROI. To learn more, visit www.appboy.com.