One of the most heard names in the Indian Mobile advertising front has been mKhoj a startup launched sometime in 2006. And today it has announced a re-branding initiative after which mKhoj will now be known as a InMobi. The effort seemingly is a bid to give the brand a more global outlook especially keeping its expansion plans in mind.
As part of the re-branding exercise they have launched a new website – inmobi.com (obviously, though the old mKhoj website remains still instead of simply redirecting to the new site). Naveen Tewari, CEO of mKhoj/Inmobi has also blogged about the brand makeover and the journey of mKhoj over the past couple of years.
Today we’re rebranding and launching ourselves as InMobi, with aspirations to be a global player in the mobile web ecosystem, enthusiasm in our veins and earnestness in our work. The journey so far has been really exciting for me and the team that has come with me all along. This journey, as with most others, started with an inspiration. (source)
Inmobi's New Website
In an interview with WATBlog in May, Naveen had mentioned that educating clients about mobile advertising in general and also aspects like location aware advertising has been the biggest hurdle they Inmobi has faced over the years. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the biggest issue they face now as they go to European and other markets outside of South East Asia and Africa.
It would also be interesting to see how they face off against competition like Admob which to my mind has a stronger presence in the global markets compared to India where Inmobi might come out with better numbers as of now. Currently Inmobi serves close to 1.5 billion impressions across its network. It had also recently launched regional content mobile advertising in 17 countries.
Inmobi/mKhoj has seen one round of funding leaving aside an initial fund of half a million dollars raised through angel investors. The company was funded to the tune of over $7 million by Sherpalo and KPCB who had also invested in Naukri and Cleartrip successfully.
This is quite interesting. I think these guys have done well in the last couple of years and maybe one of the only companies that have succeeded (or are succeeding) globally in the internet/ mobile space from India.
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