Iris Mobile, the only mobile marketing company that enables brands to deliver optimized rich content perfectly to any mobile device, today announced it has closed a $3 million Series A financing round led by Chicago-based Origin Ventures. Illinois Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and OCA Ventures also participated in the investment. The growth capital will be used to expand the company's product development, and sales and marketing initiatives.

'We are fortunate to have the financial support of several of Chicago's premiere early-stage investors,' said Cezar Kolodziej, founder and CEO of Iris Mobile. 'Our technology has helped brands connect with more mobile customers than ever before. This funding will allow us to extend our reach and accelerate our growth.'

Founded by three pioneers in mobile messaging technology who architected the messaging infrastructure used by wireless carriers today, Iris Mobile provides the only market solution that allows rich media messages to be delivered perfectly to any mobile device running on any operating system, and on any wireless carrier. The first of its kind mobile marketing platform enables brands to send interactive messages containing pictures, videos, coupons, promotions, extended text and web links, and to track campaign analytics for consumer behavior. Rich media messaging pushes the bounds of traditional text and SMS messaging with more robust content resulting in breakthrough traffic and engagement rates.

'We're thrilled to be working with Iris Mobile to bring their Rich Media Messaging platform to more clients and agencies,' said Brent Hill, partner at Origin Ventures. 'Mobile devices are becoming increasingly important to marketers, and Iris Mobile offers an innovative path to the text messaging queue on a consumer's device.'

The company's customers include IKEA, Cartier, Pink, Avenue and Kellogg's, as well as agencies such as Leo Burnett, 89 Degrees, Edelman and The Marketing Arm. The company's rich media messaging campaigns have won multiple honors, including the Super REGGIE, ADDY®, ECHO™, and SMARTIE™ awards.

About Iris Mobile: Iris Mobile (www.irismobile.com), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is the market leader in Rich Media Messaging, which delivers pictures, videos, extended text, web links, coupons, and promotions via mobile messaging across any mobile hardware, operating system, and carrier combination. Brands and agencies use the Iris platform to reach consumers with engaging, rich content delivered directly to the consumer's messaging queue.

Founded by three pioneers in mobile messaging technology, Cezar Kolodziej, Nick Doulas, and Deep Malik have over twenty years of experience in mobile messaging, and architected the messaging infrastructure used by wireless carriers today.

About Origin Ventures: Origin Ventures (www.originventures.com) is a Chicago-based early stage venture capital firm. Founded in 1999 by Steve Miller and Bruce Barron, the firm closed its $45M Origin III fund in January 2013. Previous investments include iNest (acquired by IAC), Grubhub, Shoutlet, ifbyphone, Campus Explorer, Whittl and Aisle50.