PictureIQ
Corporation announced it has secured $6 million in private equity in
the initial close of its series C funding. The funding round was led
by major existing investors in the company, including Adobe Ventures,
Digital Partners and Granite Ventures.
Picture above shows how PictureIQ™ TransForce™ Model 300 makes it possible for your applications and services to deliver photos and images on the fly to any mobile network or Internet-enabled device—including everything from mobile handsets to Palm-type computers.
The
company will use the new capital to accelerate product development,
expand sales and marketing efforts in key geographies such as Asia and
Europe, and fund ongoing business operations.
PictureIQ provides operators and content providers around the world
with scalable infrastructure for the real-time optimization of multimedia
content for delivery to and access by any Internet or mobile device.
Its dozens of enterprise customers include Nippon Ericsson, Sony, and
Toshiba. Next week, PictureIQ will announce a new product designed to
enable interoperability of multimedia services for peer-to-peer mobile
messaging within carrier environments. The company currently markets
on a worldwide basis TransForce™ Model 300, a server appliance
supporting the dynamic optimization of multimedia content for any networked
device, and PhotoForce™ Model 325, enabling photo portal and picture
mail services.
"It was compelling for Adobe Ventures to re-invest in PictureIQ," said Fred Mitchell, vice president of venture investments at Adobe Systems. "PictureIQ is helping businesses optimize multimedia content for any network-connected device, making it possible for their customers to reliably access compelling content."
In Japan, PictureIQ’s technology represents an integral part of mobile Internet infrastructure that is necessary to support more than 40,000 content sites and 60 million mobile Internet subscribers in this geography alone. Rich multimedia content, Internet photo sharing and mobile picture messaging are popular applications already in key geographies such as Japan and Korea. For example, J-Phone, a leading mobile operator that has more than 4 million camera-enabled phones in service in Japan, currently has one out of every three of its subscribers taking advantage of mobile picture messaging services. Finally, multimedia messaging services (MMS) is expected to play a leading role in mobile operators' plans to fuel growth for 2.5G and 3G mobile data services in geographies such as Europe and North America. MMS messages can include any combination of still images, animations, audio or video clips.
"PictureIQ continues to enhance its position as the leading provider and technology innovator of multimedia transcoding solutions that enable operators and content providers to maximize their revenue from compelling content and services," said Tom Hull, president and CEO of PictureIQ Corporation. "The continued confidence of our investors and response we have received in the marketplace reinforces our market leadership and growth prospects in this emerging market."
About
the Investors
Founded in 1994, Adobe Ventures invests in companies that will successfully
bring to market products and services that are strategic to Adobe’s
own network publishing business.
Digital Partners, Seattle, Washington, is a venture capital firm helping talented entrepreneurs build great technology companies with a particular emphasis on Internet infrastructure, wireless connectivity and data delivery, and enterprise software.
Based in San Francisco, Granite manages over $650 million in committed venture capital, and has invested in over 70 private companies in the software and communications sectors. Granite also manages a series of venture capital funds in dedicated partnerships with Adobe Systems Incorporated, Texas Instruments Incorporated, and British Telecommunications plc.
