iPhone Application Advertising Platform AdWhirl Closes $1 Million Seed Round

Business Wire, June 16, 2009

Startup Helping iPhone Developers Make Money via Free Applications

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- AdWhirl, the most popular ad platform solution among iPhone application developers, announced today that it has closed a one million dollar seed round led by Foundation Capital, with additional participation by several angel investors.

Founded in April of 2009, AdWhirl has quickly become the leading open ad platform for iPhone developers, with over 1,000 publishers and more than one billion ads served per month to iPhone and iPod Touch users through otherwise free applications. AdWhirl offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to leverage targeted and personalized advertising in more than 160 countries.

“Mobile advertising has seen tremendous growth as more and more advertisers are discovering how to leverage the mobile medium,” said Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, who will join the AdWhirl board. “With AdWhirl’s unique mobile platform and growing lead in publisher adoption, we’re excited that AdWhirl will be well positioned to lead the way as the mobile ad market continues to explode.”

AdWhirl gives iPhone application developers a flexible platform to make money by managing and serving ads to their free apps from all of the top ad networks, including AdMob, Quattro Wireless, Videoegg, and Jumptap, with Millenial Media and Google’s Adsense coming soon.

“Our goal as a platform has always been to give developers full control over their ad space,” said Ra Roath, Co-Founder of AdWhirl. “In addition to adding new advertisers and optimizing ad revenues for developers, we intend to expand to other ad solutions such as offer-based rewards, so that developers have the flexibility to maximize revenues through multiple channels.”

AdWhirl’s platform also allows developers to cross-promote apps with free custom ads to gain distribution and boost sales of paid apps.

“With over 50,000 apps now in Apple’s App Store, it’s becoming more and more difficult for individual developers and small companies to get the attention of users,” said Sam Yam, Co-Founder of AdWhirl. “AdWhirl is committed to helping developers obtain mass distribution of their apps through free custom ads and a proper ad exchange where developers can help one another reach the top 100 in the App Store.”

The company says that it will use the funds to expand out to other platforms such as Android, Blackberry, and Palm Pre, while developing new solutions for developers to more effectively monetize their ad space and obtain better distribution for their apps.

About AdWhirl:

Founded in April 2009, AdWhirl (www.adwhirl.com) is the world’s first dynamic ad platform for Apple’s iPhone, allowing developers and publishers to serve advertisements from different ad networks or create their own advertisements for cross-promotion purposes. AdWhirl’s rollover technology ensures that publishers always serve a paid advertisement when possible, optimizing ad networks’ inventory. AdWhirl offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to leverage targeted and personalized advertising in more than 160 countries.