2009  Investment  in    
Boston’s  Mobile  Industry  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
March,  2010
Introduction  
 
In  this  report,  Mobile  Monday  Boston  evaluates  the  100  Massachusetts  mobile  and  
wireless  companies  that  saw  activity  in  venture  capital  funding  and  acquisitions  in  2009.  
The  data  reveals  that  mobile  has  now  been  billion-­‐dollar  a  year  sector  in  Massachusetts  
for  the  last  two  years,  despite  recent  drops  in  venture  funding  fueled  by  the  current  
economic  climate.    
 
Yearly  Mobile  Investment    

Total  mobile  investment  in  the  Boston  area  increased  44%  from  1.01  billion  in  2008  to  
1.49  billion  in  2009.  Venture  capital  funding  decreased  from  565.28  million  in  2008  to  
338.65  million  in  2009,  while  acquisitions  increased  from  473.4  million  in  2008  to  1.16  
billion  in  2009.    
 
*2009  acquisitions  include  the  following:  
• 72  Mobile  Holdings’  $530  million  acquisition  of  Airvana  
• Acme  Packet’s  $22.8  million  acquisition  of  Convergence  
• Prime  View  International’s  $215  million  acquisition  of  E  Ink  
• Compuware’s  $295  million  acquisition  of  Gomez  
• KPN’s  $93.3  million  acquisition  of  iBasis  
The  total  number  of  Boston  mobile  companies  receiving  venture  capital  funding  
decreased  to  32  companies  in  2009  after  reaching  a  new  high  in  2008  with  45  total  
companies  receiving  funding.  This  decrease  is  in  line  with  the  all  investment  activity  
(beyond  mobile)  throughout  New  England.  Based  on  PricewaterhouseCoopers  
MoneyTree  report  for  Q4  2009/Full-­‐year  20091,  the  entire  New  England  area  
experienced  a  27%  decrease  in  the  number  of  venture  deals  from  474  in  2008  to  348  in  
2009.  Boston  based  mobile  firms  receiving  funding  mirrored  that  trend  with  a  29%  
decrease  in  the  number  of  venture  deals  from  45  in  2008  to  31  in  2009.    

1
 Report  can  be  found  at  https://www.pwcmoneytree.com/MTPublic/ns/index.jsp  
Venture  funding  began  strong  for  2009  with  207.8  million  invested  in  Q109,  but  quickly  
dropped  off,  bottoming  out  at  24.15  million  in  funding  for  Q309,  and  recovering  with  
40.2  million  in  funding  for  Q409.  While  Q3  was  the  lowest  quarter  for  funding,  we  still  
saw  eight  total  investments  in  this  quarter,  about  the  same  total  number  of  investments  
as  all  other  2009  quarters.  The  difference  in  Q3  was  in  the  small  size  of  VC  deals.  All  but  
one  was  at  or  under  $3  million.    
 
These  venture  capital  investment  numbers  were  overshadowed  by  several  large  
acquisitions  in  the  mobile  space,  with  237.8  million  for  Q209  and  918.3  million  for  Q409.  
These  numbers  combined  for  a  total  1.16  billion  in  acquisitions  for  2009,  a  144%  
increase  over  the  473.4  million  in  acquisitions  for  2008.    
Percentages  based  on  32  total  Boston  firms  receiving  funding  in  2009.  

While  a  variety  of  companies  received  investment  in  2009,  applications  and  hardware  
firms  were  among  the  most  prominent  categories,  both  with  more  companies  receiving  
funding  than  all  other  sectors.  The  number  of  hardware  firms  receiving  funding  
increased  from  four  in  2008  to  six  in  2009,  while  the  number  of  applications  firms  
receiving  funding  increased  from  one  in  2008,  to  five  in  2009.  Applications  firms  include  
companies  like  Apperian  and  Run  Keeper;  hardware  firms  include  Ember  Corp.,  IP  
Wireless,  and  Lilliputian  Systems.