Viigo Secures First Round of Venture Capital Financing
Toronto, Ontario – December 18, 2007 – Viigo, the software company behind a revolutionary way to publish, discover and consume content on mobile devices, today announced it has closed its first round of venture capital funding. The funding was led by Ventures West, one of Canada’s largest private venture capital companies. To date the company has raised $6.4 million in angel and institutional investment.
“The rise of the Smartphone has created an unprecedented opportunity for the delivery of powerful and useful services to the palms of people’s hands,” said Mark Ruddock, President and CEO of Viigo. “Although this potential remains largely unrealized, Viigo is poised to change that.”
The software, which is designed to allow for the rapid mobilization of content and interactive services, both insulating service providers from the complexity of the mobile environment, and providing users with the most compelling experience possible, will be more broadly unveiled in the coming months.
“The Viigo platform delivers a highly optimized mobile experience that addresses the challenges of mobile devices, and circumvents the limitations of the mobile browser,” said Ted Anderson, President of Ventures West and member of the Viigo Board of Directors. “Migrating content and services to mobile devices has historically been a very challenging task for publishers and service providers and Viigo has found the solution.”
Viigo was founded in 2004 with the objective to create compelling and useful solutions for the mobile industry. Company founders Tas Tsonis, Brian Goldberg and Jay Steele are all experienced veterans of the software industry, having spearheaded wireless startup Plazmic Inc. which was acquired in 2001 by BlackBerry® developer and manufacturer, Research in Motion. Ventures West was also one of the original venture capital investors in Plazmic.
“Mark and I are both founders of former Ventures West investee companies, and have had the pleasure of working with Ted and the team in the past.” commented Jay Steele, founder and CTO, “We are looking forward to another great partnership.”
Viigo’s highly reviewed debut application is currently featured by Research In Motion (RIM) as a “hot app” on their Blackberry mobile page, is showcased in the RIM Built for BlackBerry campaign and is also the “featured app” on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Owners Circle.
Viigo
Viigo is a leading developer of mobile application software. The Viigo Platform not only offers an unparalleled mobile user experience, but provides companies with the fastest possible way to mobilize content. Tens of thousands of users across the world already use Viigo every day to enjoy Breaking News, Sports, Entertainment, Weather, Markets, Blogs or any RSS Feed they want, at the touch of a button, wherever they are.
Founded in 2004, Viigo is a privately owned company with its corporate head office in Toronto, Ontario. For more information on Viigo, please visit the company’s website at www.viigo.com. To get Viigo immediately go to www.getviigo.com from your mobile browser.
Contact:
Mark Ruddock
President and CEO
Viigo
mark.ruddock@viigo.com
416.461.3330
About Ventures West
Ventures West Capital Ltd., a private venture capital investment group, is one of Canada’s leading investors in early stage technology companies. Since its founding in 1968, Ventures West has formed eight venture capital funds which total over $700 million and has invested in more than 150 companies. Ventures West has the people, the expertise, and the capital to help entrepreneurs develop emerging technology companies into market leaders. For more information, visit www.ventureswest.com.
For more information:
Christine Ramsay
Ventures West
cramsay@ventureswest.com
416.861.2280
