FeedHenry, a mobile application platform provider based in Ireland, today announced a $9 million investment round which is led by Intel Capital. The funding, it says, will more than double its 40-person team in order to grow its global presence.
Aside from Intel, existing investor Kernel Capital put an undisclosed ‘seven figure’ sum into the round, while VMware Inc., Enterprise Ireland — two other existing backers — and ACT Venture Capital also participated. Around 100 new jobs are expected to be created over the next two years as a result of the deal.
FeedHenry provides a platform and range of services that allow business to create and manage mobile apps for a range of users — employees, consumers or partners — which are securely integrated with their systems using the cloud. The company is a rival, of sorts, to Parse, the startup that Facebook bought last month, serving the growing demand for business-related mobile applications.
Cathal McGloin, CEO of FeedHenry, explained why he believes services like the company’s system are becoming vital:
Increasingly, enterprises are viewing mobile apps as transformative to their business operations. As organizations evolve towards more complex apps with connections to multiple backend systems, the need for a cloud-based mobile application platform is compelling. This new investment will give us the means to continue to innovate and expand the capabilities of our platform to better serve our growing customer base.
Intel Capital’s Marcos Battisti said the Irish startup has “already gained significant momentum and credibility in the enterprise mobility market segment” and, with fresh investment, it is poised to strengthen its reach worldwide.
Waterford-based FeedHenry, which also has an office in Dublin, began life as a research project headed up by the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), becaming a company in its own right in November 2010. A year later, FeedHenry secured seed funding from Kernel Capital via its Bank of Ireland fund.
Headline image via Thinkstock
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