IDG Ventures invests $3 mn in mobile ad co Vserv

DELHI, INDIA: Vserv, a Mobile In-App advertising network in India, announced on Tuesday that it has closed $3 million in Series A funding by IDG Ventures India.

The investment represents the first venture capital investment in mobile advertising in India since 2008 and is the first institutional investment into Vserv, said a press release.

As part of the investment, Manik Arora and Karan Mohla from IDG Ventures will be joining Vserv’s Board of Directors.

Vserv is a mobile advertising network focused on emerging markets having delivered In-App and Wap advertising, while IDG Ventures India is a VC fund investing in technology-related product and services companies in India.

With the rollout of 3G in India, consumption of mobile data-services and mobile apps is expected to increase significantly. The mobile phone has transformed into an effective channel to receive advertisements and is increasingly becoming an important engagement tool for brands.

Manik Arora, founder and MD, IDG Ventures India, said, “While the mobile advertising industry is still relatively young, it is experiencing rapid growth driven by Mobile Internet growth and Mobile Apps growth. Within this, emerging markets are critical given their large and growing mobile phone installed bases - India alone has over 40 million Mobile Internet users and the largest market for J2ME App downloads.”

Dippak Khurana, founder and CEO, Vserv, said “We are excited to have partnered with IDG Ventures, given their strong reputation in Internet and Mobile in India, Asia and the US. With the funds we plan to expand our sales and engineering teams to drive sales growth in India and internationally as well as further develop our monetization solutions for the global App developer community.”