“MaaS provides our customers with a true digital front door for their patients and staffs, either end-to-end as a complete turn-key solution off-the-shelf, or as software components and tools that they can license, incorporate and build on their own through convenient and frictionless Github downloads and a comprehensive learning management system known as the Phunware Phenom Certified Developer Program,” said Alan S. Knitowski, President, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “Missed appointments cost the US healthcare system more than $150 billion every year, so we’re extremely excited to enable such a prominent, globally recognized healthcare organization to better manage their patient and clinician experience across more than 14 million square feet of facilities spread over a 40 block downtown metropolitan area.”

Read the full article from Proactive

The post Phunware Adds Top US Cancer Center as Mobile Digital Front Door Customer appeared first on Phunware.

“Companies across every major industry are using technology to transform their businesses and this event acts as a global stage for the latest innovation across these industries,” said Alan S. Knitowski, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Phunware. “We’re excited to meet with innovators and thought leaders in healthcare and elsewhere to explore how Phunware’s MaaS platform and digital front door can better engage new and existing customers, all while driving profitable behavior.”

For additional information on the event, visit himssconference.org/. To register, visit here. To view the full HIMSS20 program, visit here.

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Austin, TX [April 27, 2017] – Today, Phunware, whose mobile application lifecycle management platform helps brands engage, manage, and monetize mobile application users worldwide, announced that its CEO and President, Alan S. Knitowski, was selected as a class member of QuantumShift 2017 Top Entrepreneurs in America by KPMG LLP’s Private Market’s Group and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. The program identifies and selects up to 40 entrepreneurs leading high-growth, private companies each year.

“It’s an honor to be included among an incredible group of CEOs leading some of the highest-growth companies in America, and a particularly proud achievement to represent Austin in the 2017 class,” said Alan S. Knitowski. “Our growth and achievement at Phunware is a true testament to the team we have built and our continued leadership in mobile innovation, helping brands better engage, manage and monetize their mobile users anytime, anywhere.”

Alan S. Knitowski is one of 38 entrepreneurs in this year’s QuantumShift dynamic class from various industries, including technology, media and telecommunications, retail, healthcare and life sciences. Each entrepreneur has gone through an extensive vetting process and is only considered if their company meets specific criteria, including an established base of at least $20 million and a clear pathway for continued growth. The 2017 class of CEOs and business owners will undergo an intensive five-day learning, networking and collaboration program featuring sessions with Ross School of Business faculty and industry professionals.

In its second year, QuantumShift gives top entrepreneurs of private, U.S.-based companies the opportunity and resources they need to grow in an atmosphere that encourages leadership, intensive learning and accomplishment. Knitowski’s inclusion in the 2017 class marks the latest achievement for Phunware, following a year of impressive growth and the company’s recent announcement of an additional $22 million in Series F funding. Today, the Phunware platform touches more than 700 million active devices per month, and powers more than 1 trillion database events, earning the company inclusion on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 list and national recognition as one of Forbes’ Most Promising Companies in America.

“We were impressed by the fantastic growth Alan Knitowski has accomplished at Phunware and believe it is vital to acknowledge and foster this growth,” said Brian Hughes, National Leader, KPMG LLP’s Private Markets Group. “This company’s track record demonstrates what we look for to cultivate in our QuantumShift program.”

“The QuantumShift program recognizes the achievements of high-growth entrepreneurs who are at the top of their game, and helps them lay a groundwork for the future,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “We’re looking forward to working with Alan S. Knitowski and Phunware and we are excited to see what they accomplish.”

To learn more about Phunware’s continued growth and how the company is powering mobile experiences for some of the world’s most respected brands, visit www.phunware.com. For more information on QuantumShift, visit www.quantumshiftus.com and follow conversations using #QuantumShiftUS on Twitter.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), whose mobile application lifecycle management platform allows brands to engage, manage and monetize mobile application users worldwide. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with nearly 700 million devices touching its platform each month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way consumers interact with mobile in the virtual and physical worlds, visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @Phunware

About KPMG LLP

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.kpmg.com/us), is the independent U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”). KPMG International’s independent member firms have 189,000 professionals, including more than 9,000 partners, in 152 countries.

About University of Michigan: Ross School of Business

The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan is a vibrant and distinctive learning community grounded in the principle that business can be an extraordinary vehicle for positive change. Through thought and action, members of the Ross community drive change and innovation that improves business and society. Housed within Michigan Ross, the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies is a leading center for entrepreneurial thought leadership and engagement.

About QuantumShift

QuantumShift is a joint program between KPMG LLP’s Private Markets Group and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business that is rooted in sustained learning, networking and collaboration. Each year founders, owners and CEOs of private, U.S. companies are vetted through a nomination and application process reviewed by the Michigan Ross QuantumShift Admissions Committee. Candidates with an established revenue base of at least $20 million showing a strong record of revenue growth and a clear pathway for continued growth are selected and are eligible to participate in a week-long program to learn from distinguished Ross School of Business faculty members and a wealth of other talented professionals. Additionally, participants who complete the program gain access to an exclusive peer-to-peer Fellows Network focused on ongoing problem solving, development and mentorship.

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Austin, TX [April 5, 2017] – In a new national survey from Phunware, whose mobile app lifecycle management platform helps brands engage, manage and monetize their anytime/anywhere users, daily mobile users report that they spend an average of six hours a day on their devices, mostly on smartphones.

The survey polled more than 680 daily smartphone and tablet users to find out how they leverage mobile today and what they expect from the technology in coming years. From device preferences to dominant app categories to wish lists for new functionality, the results predict mobile’s continuing evolution from a user perspective and offer key insights for brands looking to stay relevant as they plan their mobile strategies. Today, mobile continues to be the best way for brands to reach and convert users 1:1, representing more than 65% of digital media time according to comScore—nearly 90% of which is spent in mobile applications.

“This study proves that mobile is no longer simply about competitive differentiation—it’s about survival,” said Alan S. Knitowski, co-founder and CEO of Phunware. “Mobile devices are at the core of nearly every daily function, and consumer expectations around what can be done on mobile only continue to grow. Brands that live up to those expectations and provide useful, engaging mobile experiences will pull ahead, but those who fall short will undoubtedly be left behind.”

Dependence on Mobile Devices Grows

Today’s daily mobile users spend an average of six hours per day on their devices, with a deep reliance on smartphones and tablets that extends far beyond entertainment. 82% of those surveyed said having their phones with them makes them feel safe and secure, and 60% admitted feeling anxious without their mobile device. In fact, 52% of respondents said they would rather have access to their phone or tablet than their wallet.

And no activity is immune from mobile distraction. Daily users turn to their devices everywhere they go, including their most private circumstances—while using the restroom (66%), during medical appointments (55%), while on a date (33%), while showering (16%), even while having sex (5%).

Capturing Time and Attention

The average survey respondent has 17 apps on their smartphone and 12 apps on their tablet (excluding the apps that come standard with each device). The most frequently used app categories are social media, media and entertainment, and utilitarian apps such as maps and weather updates.

What makes daily mobile users download apps? The biggest motivators were “It’s free,” “It’s user-friendly” and “It’s fast and easy to download.” Plus, roughly half of all respondents were enticed by “features or offerings that I can only get through the app.”

Conversely, the top three reasons respondents hit delete were a lack of usefulness (84%), disruptive ad overload (81%) and poor user experience (80%). Perhaps most ominous for brands is the prevalence of app dormancy. 72% of those surveyed reported having apps on their phone or tablet they haven’t opened in over a month. When asked why they keep those apps, 27% said they simply forgot the apps exist.

Winning the Mobile Wars in the Coming Years

Right now, most daily mobile users expect their smartphone or tablet to be their primary device for consuming news (66%), shopping (53%) and playing video games (45%). A sizeable percentage rely on mobile as their primary device for watching movies or television shows (33%). What’s more telling is the fact that daily users are eager for the opportunity to do even more on mobile. For example, 58% said they’d like to book medical appointments via their mobile device, and 48% would like to vote for public officials—including the President of the United States. More than a third want to be able to use mobile to participate in jury duty. These responses point towards a growing desire to consolidate the utilitarian tasks of living within a mobile platform.

At the same time, daily users are increasingly comfortable with making high-dollar purchases on their mobile devices. 42% of respondents would purchase a car through their mobile devices, 41% would pay for college tuition, 32% want to be able to buy homes and vacation properties and 40% reported wanting the ability to select a new pet via mobile. Taken together, these data points indicate that mobile’s biggest fans are moving beyond small-time mobile shopping and are ready to embrace the convenience of making larger, more significant transactions using mobile technology.

For brands, the growing demand for more—and more varied—mobile experiences offers an incredible opportunity to understand and engage consumers at levels never before possible. Nearly half of those surveyed reported they would be willing to disclose key personal information to have a better or more useful mobile experience. What’s more, these daily mobile users are willing to provide more than an email address. While most were happy to share their personal shopping preferences, one out of five respondents would share even more personal information such as access to social media profiles, anonymized location data and updates on major life events. What would entice them to share this information? 62% of respondents said “access to discounts or promotions,” while another 40% said “the ability to reduce the number of irrelevant mobile ads.”

To download the full survey report and gain additional insight, please visit this landing page.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), a platform that lets brands engage, manage and monetize their users anytime, anywhere. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with more than 700 million devices touching its platform every month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way the world interacts with connected devices, visit www.phunware.com and follow @Phunware on Twitter.

The post New Study Reveals That for Today’s Brands, Mobile is Do or Die appeared first on Phunware.

Increasingly, the only way to deliver that in-demand experience and journey is through “authentically mobile” experiences—those that are only possible on a mobile device. That means your organization must take a mobile-first, native-first and fully integrated-first approach to the mobile lifecycle. Mobile is the first screen today—not the second, the third or the companion screen—and experiences that fail to leverage the unique native capabilities of mobile fall short of user expectations. Mobile internet traffic has surpassed desktop traffic, and 85% of it is in native applications—not mobile browsers such as Apple Safari or Google Chrome. Your focus should be on native mobile applications first, mobile web second and traditional web last.

Because mobile has such transformative power, all functional areas should have a role in the success of mobile application portfolios—from Marketing to Facilities to Finance. Let’s explore where those functional areas fit into the mobile application lifecycle and what you could gain by structuring your organization for success in the mobile era.

Who to Involve in Mobile Application Lifecycle Management

In the early days of mobile applications, it was possible (not advisable, but possible) to treat mobile as an isolated tactic and channel. Before mobile use was ubiquitous and brands really understood how to make mobile data actionable, you could get away with treating mobile as another marketing avenue like PPC or direct mail.

Those days are long gone, however, and mobile applications are no longer siloed or set-and-forget. Even the simplest mobile application lifecycle now involves a complex interplay of mobile technology, media strategy and data science, and can impact areas of the business from marketing to operations to facilities planning alike. Here’s who you should always involve in your mobile planning and initiatives to ensure that you are always surfacing—and able to act on—all of the insights mobile can power.

Group 1: Mobile Team

Your Mobile team (it may be called the Digital or Virtual team at your organization) will define the value your brand will deliver to users through its mobile portfolio—entertainment, utility, information, etc.—and how that value will be brought to life in a mobile application experience. They will determine the devices (smartphone, tablet, watch, TV, etc.) and operating systems (iOS, Android, both, something else) your application should run on. Presumably you plan to achieve some business goal with this mobile initiative, such as generating revenue, increasing brand awareness, driving foot traffic, engaging Millennials, etc. Your Mobile team will be responsible for figuring out how your application will achieve that goal.

Now, you could feasibly stop here. It would be woefully misguided to do so, but you could actually build and launch an application with only your Mobile team. How would you build, engage and monetize your audience, though? How would you develop and act on the insights and data available through your application, both indoors and outdoors? By involving your Media and Data teams from the outset.

Group 2: Media Team

Your Media team should be there from day one to make sure you have appropriately strategized how you will build, engage and monetize your application audience. With literally millions of other applications to catch their eye, you can’t depend on your users to randomly discover your app on their own. Organic, viral application discovery tends to happen by accident. You should assume that mobile audiences are overwhelmingly built through paid user acquisition (UA) campaigns and tactics and expect to invest in performance-based audience building campaigns to acquire your app users. It will be critical to understand the lifetime value of each user so you can determine what you are willing to pay per user for your expected return on investment (ROI).

Post launch, it will be up to your Media team to monitor which of these campaigns is performing best so that you can then optimize your ongoing spend accordingly. You don’t just want to drive app downloads or brand awareness as part of this process—you want to acquire the users most likely to engage and spend in and through your application.

Group 3: Data Science Team

Your Data Science team should be there to plan what data you will collect through your application and how you will use it not only to optimize future versions of the application, but also business processes, marketing strategy and a host of other initiatives not traditionally thought of as “mobile.” Data is key to preserving and expanding the mobile revenue streams associated with your application audiences over time. Your ultimate goal for these mobile engagements and interactions should be to deliver the right action at the right time to the right user based on who and where they are and what they like and don’t like, on a 1:1 basis, indoors or outdoors, in real time. The key to these insights is data: their usage behavior and value to your brand.

Learn more! Download the eBook Mobile Data: the Missing Link in Your User Acquisition and Engagement Strategies.

DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK

A smartphone is a digital device, but it moves through the physical world and is embedded with technologies, like GPS and accelerometers, that mobile apps can leverage for richer experiences. Additionally, mobile apps generate valuable data as users interact with them. Each interaction (or “event”) results in a data point—complete with location—you can use to improve and tailor the mobile experience. The Phunware platform, for example, grows by 40 billion events per month, thanks to the 700+ million unique devices touching it through more than 5000+ application portfolios.

These mobile events and data points are actionable far beyond the mobile channel. They can (and should) impact marketing strategy as a whole, media investment, operations planning—even real estate decisions. For example:

• Operations. Leverage data from mobile location-based technologies like beacons to streamline inventory control in a retail environment, monitor and manage patient traffic patterns in a hospital, or speed the flow of passengers through an airport or cruise terminal.
• Marketing. Use data from your mobile campaigns and app engagement to understand what offers your users care about, what app features they value, and where they live, work and play. Optimize your entire marketing approach based on these deep insights.
• Revenue. Mobile is a powerful channel for e-commerce, of course, but can also serve as revenue-generating platform through in-app media monetization and mobile engagement campaigns that drive real-world purchase conversions with full attribution at retail point of sale (POS).

Finally, your Legal team plays a role in brand protection, privacy and intellectual property enforcement, while your Facilities team plays a role in physical infrastructure investments needed to support authentically mobile user experiences—such as high and low density Wi-Fi, virtual and physical beacons and bandwidth.

Mobile as a channel goes far beyond the device in your users’ pockets…but it’s up to you to make sure you are tapping the right teams at your organization to take advantage of mobile’s reach.

Structuring Your Team for Mobile Application Lifecycle Management

Now that you know which groups to involve in mobile application lifecycle management, let’s take a minute to discuss org structure. Your Mobile, Media and Data Science teams are likely separate and siloed under these leaders:

This is normal—companies don’t set out to exist in silos, but unless you make a concerted effort to merge them, application, media and data science teams will likely remain separate. This separation is something you will want to address quickly, however, if you want to create and maintain a competitive advantage at that high value touchpoint between your brand and your anytime, anywhere audiences and communities on mobile. Importantly, the companies seeing global, enterprise-level success in mobile have these same three teams, but roll them up under one person who oversees and manages them as an integrated unit:

Every company aspires to have a CDO, CMO and CRO, but even without these roles, it’s critical to have one executive at the top of your organization with direct or dotted-line oversight of those controlling mobile, media and data. If you’re not working in synergy and driving towards the same goal through every stage of the lifecycle, you’re leaving significant money on the table.

Check back soon for the next installment in my blog series, where I’ll cover how to structure an RFP to find the best mobile lifecycle management partner.

To learn more about best practices at every stage of the mobile lifecycle, check out this eBook: Mobile First: Harnessing the App Lifecycle for Transformative Business Success.

DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK

The post Organizing for Digital Transformation: The Role of Mobile Application Lifecycle Management in Maximizing the Customer Experience and Customer Journey appeared first on Phunware.

Across the U.S., mobile app usage continues to expand, accounting for the majority of internet users’ digital media consumption (comScore). Brands are starting to get on board—73% of U.S. marketers surveyed in August 2016 said they plan to increase their spending on mobile within the next 12 months.

Unfortunately, investment in mobile still fails to match consumers’ interest in the platform, a gap that represents a $22 billion opportunity in the US alone.

As mobile reaches maturity, organizations must stop thinking about it as a menu of isolated tactics like monetization, mobile app engagement, location-based marketing and so on. Instead, by thinking about mobile in terms of a lifecycle, we can understand and capitalize on it much better. Let’s explore why that is, what the mobile application lifecycle entails and how you can take control of it at every stage for maximum benefit.

A 1000-ft View of the Mobile Application Lifecycle

Regardless of the purpose it’s intended to serve, every mobile initiative has a four-stage lifecycle. The sooner you can understand these stages, embrace them and begin to organize your team and processes for success in the era of mobile (more on those topics in my next blog installments), the more handily you will be able to crush your competitors. The four stages of the mobile application lifecycle are:

1. Strategize

In this phase, you define the amazing experience you want users to have with your app. You outline use cases and determine the feature sets your app should offer.

You decide which devices (Smartphone? TV? Watch?) and operating systems (Android? iOS? Other?) you want to serve.

It’s also important to identify early on the infrastructure and bandwidth needed to support the experience you want to create. For example, if you know you want to build a patient wayfinding application for your hospital, do you have the wireless infrastructure in place to support this experience? If you want to provide proximity-triggered in-app promotions to users at your retail store or stadium, do you understand the hardware requirements for these use cases?

Finally, it’s critical to involve the right groups from across your organization as early as possible.

• Your Mobile team (it may be called the Digital or Virtual team at your organization) should drive the definition of the mobile experience and how it will be brought to life in your app.
• Your Media Buying team should be there from the outset to make sure you have appropriately strategized how you will build, engage and monetize your application audience (more on this below in Step 3: Launch).
• Your Data Science team should be there to plan what data you will collect through your application and how you will use it not only to optimize future versions of the application, but business processes, marketing strategy and a host of other initiatives not traditionally thought of as “mobile” (more on this below in Step 4: Engage and Monetize).

2. Create

In this phase of the mobile application lifecycle, you bring your app to life in the way that makes the most sense for your budget, timeline, inclinations and capabilities. At a high level, these are your options:

• If you have the capability to build your app in-house, you will likely want to license app components (usually in the form of SDKs, APIs and portals) and use your own engineering team to incorporate them into your application. Licensing application components is also the most budget-friendly option.
• If you don’t have the inclination or capability to build your app in-house, licensing a pre-built, brandable application is an excellent choice. Customizable app solutions are relatively inexpensive and offer quick time to market and low total cost of ownership. And if you choose the right partner, they don’t look pre-built at all.
• Of course, if you have the budget to do it, you can work with a partner to build a custom app from the ground up, with all of the bells and whistles you desire. At this point, it’s only a matter of picking a partner with proven expertise, stability and scale. (More on this topic to come in a future blog post about best practices for writing mobile RFPs.)

3. Launch

This phase of the mobile application lifecycle is where you facilitate application discovery and user acquisition to build the audience that will consume your mobile application. Your Media Buying and Data Science teams will play critical roles here, as performance-based audience building campaigns will be one of your main tactics. Finding the right—read: high-value—users for your app requires a thoughtful, data-backed media buying strategy.

4. Engage and Monetize

Finally, plan for how you will drive revenue with your mobile efforts. This may be as straightforward as charging for your app or offering in-app purchases of physical or virtual goods—but you should also plan to explore other techniques as appropriate, such as:

• Monetizing your app’s real estate through banners, interstitials and other paid media units.
• Leveraging the native capabilities of users’ smartphones to power contextually relevant messaging that drives foot traffic and purchases, both online and off.
• Using the data that accumulates as users engage with your app to inform and optimize engagement, integration and monetization approaches as well as future iterations of the app.

Many businesses successfully complete steps 1-3, but stop at step 4 because they think the work is done after the app is in the app marketplace and downloads are trickling in. This line of thinking is akin to devoting significant time and resources to design and build an automobile and get it to the dealership, then neglecting to service or maintain it after the buyer drives it off the lot. Will that buyer feel compelled to purchase a vehicle from you again? Will they get as much out of that car—and feel as positively about your brand—as they would have if you had helped them maintain it? Probably not.

Thinking about mobile in terms of a four-stage lifecycle will set you apart from your more shortsighted competitors and prepare you to play—and win—the long game.

What Makes the Mobile Lifecycle Unique?

The idea of a technology lifecycle is not new—it comes to us from the software development world. What makes the mobile lifecycle different is the hybrid digital / physical context in which mobile operates.

Think about it:

• Mobile bridges the physical and digital worlds. A smartphone is a digital device, but it moves through the physical world and includes highly specific geographic location technologies that mobile apps can leverage.
• Mobile straddles the line between customer experience and business solution. An app can serve users with entertainment, wayfinding, shopping, etc. while also delivering value to the business through third-party monetization, process optimization, user data collection and driving real-world outcomes like foot traffic or appointment compliance.
• Mobile use is immersed in the very personal context of the user’s daily life. People carry their phones wherever they go and they interact with apps throughout the day. Each of these interactions results in a data point—complete with location—brands can use to improve and tailor the mobile experience.
• These mobile data points are actionable far beyond the mobile channel. They can (and should) impact marketing strategy as a whole, media investment, operations planning—even real estate decisions. Mobile is not a digital-only channel. It’s an everywhere channel.

Learn more and download the eBook Mobile Data: the Missing Link in Your User Acquisition and Engagement Strategies!

DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK

How Mobile Permeates the Business

Because of the context inherent to mobile data, the mobile lifecycle can positively impact multiple aspects of your business. Here are a few examples:

• Operations. Leverage data from mobile location-based technologies like beacons to streamline inventory control in a retail environment, monitor and manage patient traffic patterns in a hospital, or speed the flow of passengers through an airport or cruise terminal.
• Marketing. Use data from your mobile campaigns and app engagement to understand what offers your users care about, what app features they value, and where they live, work and play. Optimize your entire marketing approach based on these deep insights.
• Revenue. Mobile is a powerful channel for e-commerce, of course, but can also serve as revenue-generating platform through in-app media monetization and mobile engagement campaigns that drive real-world purchase conversions.

Learn more and download the eBook Bring New Life to an Underperforming App with Location Technology!

DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK

Mobile affects many parts of your business, so you can’t keep it in a silo. Mobile strategies must be integrated with the rest of your marketing and digital efforts and managed accordingly. Those who still approach mobile on a per-project or per-feature basis are missing out on the full benefits—and are leaving money on the table.

Discover what it takes to close the mobile opportunity gap. Download Mobile First: Harnessing the Mobile App Lifecycle for Transformative Business Success for a strategic and tactical model with actionable items at every stage.

DOWNLOAD THE eBOOK

At Phunware, we understand mobile application lifecycle management intimately. We’ve been working in this space since 2009, with deep experience and expertise in leveraging mobile context for business gain. Our Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS) platform is built to provide effective solutions across every stage of the mobile lifecycle.

For more information about how Phunware provides strategic partnership across every stage of the mobile lifecycle, contact us. And don’t forget to check out the next installment in my blog series: Org Structure in the Mobile Era: How to Organize Your Team for Success.

The post Why You Should Be Paying Attention to Mobile Application Lifecycle Management appeared first on Phunware.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) [November 16, 2016] – Phunware, whose Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS) platform helps brands engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide, today announced it ranked 165 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, marking the company’s third consecutive appearance on the national list.

“Our continued growth is a true testament to our team and our commitment to relentless innovation,” said Phunware co-founder and CEO Alan S. Knitowski. “We are honored to be a part of this prestigious group of companies setting the bar for success in their industries, and we look forward to continuing to help today’s most recognized brands find success in mobile in 2017.”

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 provides a ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies—both public and private—in North America. Winning companies are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2011 to 2014.

Phunware’s third inclusion on the list comes after a year of record growth, with the company operating at an annualized bookings run rate of approximately $70 million. Following the recent launch of Phunware Data and the company’s announcement of $22 million in additional Series F funding, the Deloitte recognition is the latest in a series of accolades the company has received in the last year. In addition to being named to the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the fourth consecutive year, Phunware is a two-time Forbes’ Most Promising Companies in America honoree and a five-time Austin Business Journal Fast 50 recipient. Phunware also recently took home three global and national accolades during Advertising Week 2016.

“This year’s Fast 500 winners showcase that when organizations are open to diverse perspectives and insights, they are able to create an environment for their employees and customers to see the possibilities and ingenious solutions that might lie ahead,” added Jim Atwell, national managing partner of the emerging growth company practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “Entrepreneurial environments foster change and innovation within businesses, and we look forward to watching these companies continue to drive change across all sectors.”

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), a fully integrated suite of platform products, solutions and data, that allows brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with nearly 700 million devices touching its platform each month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way consumers interact with mobile in the virtual and physical worlds, visit www.phunware.com and follow @Phunware on Twitter.

For more information on Phunware MaaS platform products, solutions, services and data, including news on the company’s growth, please visit www.phunware.com.

About Deloitte’s 2016 Technology Fast 500

Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 provides a ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies – both public and private – in North America. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2012 to 2015. In order to be eligible for Technology Fast 500 recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company’s operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000 USD, and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million USD. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of four years and be headquartered within North America.

Phunware Ranked Number 165 Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte’s 2016 Technology Fast 500 was last modified: January 16th, 2020 by Phunware

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AUSTIN, TX [November 2, 2016] – Phunware, whose Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS) platform helps brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide, today announced that it raised an additional $22 million of Series F growth financing, led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia (“Khazanah”), Wavemaker Partners and PLDT Capital, the investment arm of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (“PLDT”) (PSE: TEL) (NYSE: PHI). This second closing brings the company’s total Series F raised to date to $40 million, with the balance expected to close during the current quarter.

The round includes additional investment by current investors Fraser McCombs Capital, Maxima Ventures, WWE (NYSE: WWE), Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN) and Baylor Angel Network (BAN) amongst others. The investment brings the total raised by Phunware since inception to $90 million, and comes during another record year for Phunware. In 2016, Phunware continued its aggressive growth trajectory, fueled by the recent launch of Phunware Data, which helps brands better capitalize on today’s digital and mobile data trails, with access to data across more than 650 million monthly active users touching the Phunware MaaS platform through thousands of branded mobile application portfolios. The company is operating at an annualized bookings run rate of approximately $70 million and continues to be recognized for its growth and leadership in both the mobile and multiscreen clouds. Aside from recently being named to the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the fourth consecutive year, Phunware is a two-time Forbes’ Most Promising Companies in America honoree, a three-time Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winner and a five-time ABJ Fast 50 recipient.

“Since our inception in 2009, Phunware has been uniquely leading the way in mobile innovation,” said Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “We are the only mobile, native and fully-integrated-first multiscreen cloud platform in the world and our MaaS platform products and solutions currently power more than 40 billion mobile user events every month and more than 1 trillion transactions annually. This funding will help turn every one of our global application touch points into an opportunity to reach, engage with and convert users on a 1:1 basis, and will further our vision of having every device in the Internet of Things touch the Phunware platform by 2020.”

Today, mobile continues to be the best way for brands to reach and convert users 1:1, representing more than 65% of digital media time according to comScore, nearly 90% of which is spent in mobile applications. Reports show continued mobile growth and investment in the coming years, with Forrester Research estimating a $32 billion mobile engagement market by 2018, and eMarketer estimating that mobile media buying will grow 45%, reaching nearly $46 billion by the end of this year and representing more than a third of total media spending in the U.S. by 2019. As consumers continue to turn to mobile devices, they are also demanding a streamlined experience across screens. Unlike traditional point solutions that result in siloed mobile experiences and require complex and costly management, Phunware’s comprehensive multiscreen platform approach enables the consistent brand experience consumers now expect, while giving brands superior results and insights without the heavy lifting.

For more information on Phunware MaaS platform products, solutions and data, including how the company is driving business growth for today’s most recognized brands globally, please visit www.phunware.com.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), a fully integrated suite of platform products, solutions and data, that allows brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere mobile application users worldwide. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with more than 650 million monthly active users touching its platform each month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way the world interacts with mobile in the virtual and physical worlds, visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

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AUSTIN, TX [August 23, 2016] – Phunware, whose Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS) platform helps brands engage, manage and monetize their mobile users anytime, anywhere, today announced its fourth consecutive year of inclusion in the annual Inc. 5000 list.

Each year, the prestigious list recognizes the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. After debuting in the Top 50 in 2013, Phunware’s sustained growth has earned the company continued recognition. This year, Phunware ranked number 765 out of 5000 other privately held companies in the United States. Companies are ranked based on the percentage growth of their annual revenue over a three-year period.

“Our substantial growth parallels the increasing mobile adoption of brands looking to reach and engage their users globally,” said Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “With mobile as the preferred platform for interaction between consumers and brands, brands have the ability to deliver relevant and meaningful experiences that drive loyalty and lasting relationships.”

Over the past 36 months, Phunware’s revenue grew 521%, aided by strong customer retention and continued growth of its brand portfolio, with more than 3600 brands served to date. The growth was also bolstered by the recent roll-out of Phunware Data, a data subscription service that gives brands access to more than 650 monthly active devices and 40 billion user events. The subscription allows brands to develop an unprecedented understanding of who their customers are and how to target and engage them in the right way.

This Inc. 5000 honor is one of many Phunware has received since its founding in 2009. Recent recognitions include USA TODAY’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and two consecutive years on both Forbes’ list of America’s Most Promising Companies and the Deloitte Technology Fast 500.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), a platform that lets brands engage, manage and monetize their users anytime, anywhere. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with more than 650 million devices touching its platform every month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way the world interacts with connected devices, visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

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Austin, TX (PRWEB) [July 19, 2016] – Phunware, whose Multiscreen as a Service platform helps brands engage, manage and monetize their users anytime, anywhere, today announced the launch of Phunware Data, a new real-time data subscription service that helps brands gain an unprecedented understanding of their audience, enabling better targeting and deeper engagement opportunities.

Consumers spend nearly four hours of every day on mobile devices, with each mobile touchpoint contributing to a data trail that gives brands insight on who they are, the places they frequent, their product and content preferences, even clues as to where they’ll likely go next. Since its launch in 2009, Phunware has collected an unmatched volume of that data across its mobile software and monetization platform, which today touches over 650 million devices and 40 billion mobile user events every month.

With the launch of Phunware Data, brands can now tap into actionable, data-powered mobile insights, from time spent in apps to where and how users engage. Coupled with first-party data, in-app, campaign engagement and indoor/outdoor location data from devices touching Phunware’s platform products and vertical solutions enables more comprehensive and accurate customer profiling. With the ability to group devices by anonymized IDs, brands can identify ultra-granular audiences and better predict future behavior, allowing them to reach and engage 1:1 with the right individuals, at the right time, in the right context.

“If brands want to connect with real people based on real behavior, they must understand where and how their target audience lives,” said Jon Hook, GM of Advertising at Phunware. “Mobile gives brands more visibility into their customers than they’ve ever had. Phunware Data helps turn that information into real action, empowering brands to deliver more contextual experiences and better inform and drive results across all marketing and product development strategies.”

Traditionally, brands have relied primarily on mobile Internet traffic data, tracked through cookies. But with 90% of mobile time spent in apps — which can’t be tracked by cookies — brands were left with major mobile data gaps. Phunware Data fills those critical data gaps, providing access to its volume of aggregate data across multiple industries, including retail, healthcare and media and entertainment, and allowing brands to better grow their audiences by uncovering hidden segments and profiles of potential new power users. Among the first to utilize Phunware Data subscriptions is Trusted Media Brands, a global media and direct marketing company that connects 40 million consumers with some of today’s most trusted brands, including Reader’s Digest.

For more information on Phunware Data, or to inquire about subscriptions, visit https://www.phunware.com/platform/data. Subscriptions are immediately available to both new and existing Phunware customers.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), a platform that lets brands engage, manage and monetize their users anytime, anywhere. Phunware creates category-defining mobile experiences for the world’s most respected brands, with more than 650 million devices touching its platform every month. For more information about how Phunware is transforming the way the world interacts with connected devices, visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

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Austin, TX (PRWEB) [March 29, 2016] – Phunware, a multiscreen platform and solution provider, announced today that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnMedia Top 100 winners. Inclusion in the OnMedia 100 signifies leadership among Phunware’s peers and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players. Phunware was specially selected from among hundreds of other technology companies by the AlwaysOn editorial team and global industry experts based on five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value and media buzz.

“This year’s OnMedia 100 winners are building on successes in digital media and branching out into new territory, taking advantage of today’s advances in cloud computing and other on-demand services…[They] are using the recent data explosion to break down established practices and bring people what they want—exactly when they want it,” says Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn.

Alan S. Knitowski, Phunware’s Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO, commented, “Phunware excels at helping the world’s brands create in-the-moment mobile experiences based on users’ individual preferences, behavior and location—and helping them do it with faster time to market and lower total cost of ownership than any other platform. Receiving this honor from AlwaysOn reflects and reinforces Phunware’s disruption of the mobile and multiscreen space.”

Phunware’s Multiscreen as a Service platform makes it easy for brands to add multiscreen application support both indoors and outdoors for location-based marketing, content management, mapping, navigation and wayfinding, advertising, alerts and notifications, business intelligence and analytics through the use of a single login on a single platform with a single partner. MaaS currently reaches over 625 million monthly unique devices, with the goal of touching each of the 50 billion connected devices expected to compose The Internet of Things by 2020.

A full list of all the OnMedia Top 100 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn website at www.aonetwork.com.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation products and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices. For more information about how Phunware provides Everything You Need to Succeed on Mobile, please visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

About AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand connecting and informing the entrepreneurial community in the Global Silicon Valley. Founded by Red Herring founding editor, Tony Perkins in 2003, AlwaysOn’s mission is to continue to lead the industry by empowering its readers, event participants, sponsors, bloggers, and advertisers like no other media brand.

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Austin, TX (PRWEB) [November 16, 2015] – Phunware today announced it ranked No. 93 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. The Fast 500 also ranked Phunware No. 1 in Austin and No. 4 in Texas for growth. Phunware grew 952 percent during this period.

Phunware’s co-founder and chief executive officer Alan S. Knitowski credits the scalability of Phunware’s multiscreen cloud platform and its native-first approach with the company’s 952 percent revenue growth. He said, “We are extremely proud and excited to lead the Austin start-up ecosystem in this year’s growth rankings and to place among other standout high-growth companies in Texas and nationwide.”

“Amid a fierce business climate, there seems to be no shortage of new and established companies that are unlocking a seemingly unlimited potential for growth and advancement through technology’s continued disruption and proliferation across industries,” said Sandra Shirai, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “It is inspiring to witness the innovative ways that companies are incorporating emerging technologies for business gains, be it cognitive computing, or the Internet of Things. We congratulate all those ranked on this year’s Fast 500 and look forward to seeing their continued growth into 2016.”

“Through the efforts and utilization of new and emerging technologies from these companies, we are witnessing greater business demands from across almost all industries,” added Jim Atwell, national managing partner of the emerging company practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “We look forward to the opportunity to serve these companies as they strive to grow to the next level – be it towards introducing new solutions or entering new markets – and with it make important and long lasting impressions on the technology market as a whole.”

Phunware previously ranked No. 4 as a Technology Fast 500 award winner for 2014.

About Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500

Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 provides a ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies – both public and private – in North America. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2011 to 2014.

In order to be eligible for Technology Fast 500 recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company’s operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000 USD or CD, and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million USD or CD. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of four years and be headquartered within North America.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation products and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices. For more information about how Phunware provides Everything You Need to Succeed on Mobile, please visit www.phunware.com and follow @Phunware on Twitter.

Phunware Ranked Number 93 Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500 was last modified: January 16th, 2020 by Phunware

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Austin, TX (PRWEB) [February 11, 2015] – Phunware, the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnCloud Top 100 winners. Inclusion in the OnCloud 100 signifies leadership amongst its peers and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players. Phunware was specially selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value and media buzz.

Phunware and the OnCloud Top 100 companies will be honored at AlwaysOn’s OnCloud event on February 26, 2015, at the College of San Mateo in Palo Alto, CA. This exclusive event gathers the Global Silicon Valley’s brightest minds at OnCloud for a lively exchange on the top trends and most lucrative entrepreneurial opportunities in business-to-business applications, cloud infrastructure and security.

“The OnCloud Top 100 represents the best-of-breed of private companies in business-to-business applications, management tools, security and infrastructure sectors,” explained AlwaysOn founder and editor, Tony Perkins. “Given the amount of growth and investment pouring into the cloud—by both emerging and Fortune 1000 companies, the OnCloud Top 100 Private companies are well positioned to be the fastest growing and most highly valued new companies on the planet.

The OnCloud 100 winners were selected from among hundreds of other technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists, and industry insiders. The AlwaysOn editorial team conducted a rigorous three-month selection process to finalize the 2015 list.

“We are so proud to be part of the OnCloud 100,” commented Alan S. Knitowski, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Phunware. “Phunware’s goal is to be able to touch every person and every connected device on the planet, something that’s only possible with a mobile-first, native-first and fully integrated approach. To be honored in this way by OnCloud reinforces that our disruptive vision is exactly where technology is heading.”

A full list of all the OnCloud 100 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn website at www.aonetwork.com.

For more information about Phunware, current and upcoming products and solutions and case studies from Phunware’s impressive list of global customers, please visit www.phunware.com.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware, The Software of Things, has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation products and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices.

Phunware has a 5-year percentage growth of 17,716% and is a back-to-back Top 100 award winner on both the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies. Phunware is also currently ranked # 4 on the 2014 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. For more information about how Phunware provides Everything You Need to Succeed on Mobile, please visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

About AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand connecting and informing the entrepreneurial community in the Global Silicon Valley. Founded by Red Herring founding editor, Tony Perkins in 2003, AlwaysOn’s mission is to continue to lead the industry by empowering its readers, event participants, sponsors, bloggers, and advertisers like no other media brand.

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Austin, TX (PRWEB) [January 29, 2015] – Phunware, the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide, today announced that it was named one of America’s Most Promising Companies by Forbes for the second time in as many years. The two-time honor puts Phunware in distinguished company and reaffirms its mobile-first, native-first and fully integrated-first vision.

“Achieving Forbes’ ‘Most Promising’ status is a dream for any company, but achieving it two years running is simply remarkable,” commented Alan S. Knitowski, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Phunware. “This honor serves as evidence that the time is right for Phunware’s fully integrated platform approach.”

Forbes’ Most Promising Companies for 2015 are private, with less than $300 million in revenue. Aside from revenue, winners were evaluated on company leadership, hiring and revenue growth, capital raised, products and operating margins. With $23 million in 2014 revenue, 204 employees and a single-login mobile and multiscreen platform, Phunware was highly competitive. Its 2014 and 2015 “Most Promising” rankings are # 36 and # 58, respectively.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware, The Software of Things, has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation products and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices.

Phunware has a 5-year percentage growth of 17,716% and is a back-to-back Top 100 award winner on both the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies. Phunware is also currently ranked # 4 on the 2014 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. For more information about how Phunware provides Everything You Need to Succeed on Mobile, please visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

The post Forbes Names Phunware One of America’s Most Promising Companies for Second Consecutive Year appeared first on Phunware.

“Phunware’s vision is to reach every human being on every device through every application on every screen in the world—whether created by Phunware or not,” said Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman and CEO of Phunware. “A few years ago, many believed that such a vision was either overly ambitious or completely insane. However, as the market continues to speak loudly and vote with its dollars, the global adoption of our MaaS customer engagement platform and our associated financial performance and growth continue to accelerate. We view these results as proof that our mobile-first, native-first and fully-integrated-first market approach and philosophy have been proven commercially and that Phunware continues to remain at the forefront of the global mobile revolution.”

The Phunware MaaS customer engagement platform makes it easy for any brand to add multiscreen application support for content management, location based services, advertising, alerts and notifications and business intelligence and analytics through the use of a single login on a single platform with a single partner. This unique and comprehensive solutions-based approach reduces both the cost and complexity that brands have been forced to tolerate historically with an ecosystem filled with fragmented, incomplete and non-integrated point products. MaaS currently remains the world’s only comprehensive customer engagement platform for multiscreen application environments and intends to reach each of the 50 billion connected devices expected to compose The Internet of Things by 2020.

“The companies ranked on the 2014 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 continue to set the bar for their industry higher each year,” said Eric Openshaw, Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “There are so many exciting products and smart thought leaders driving this list. We congratulate the Fast 500 companies and look forward to seeing them continue their momentum into 2015.”

“For 20 years, the Deloitte Fast 500 rankings have honored the innovation that is part of these companies’ DNA,” added Jim Atwell, National Managing Partner of the emerging growth company practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “We’re glad to be serving these high-growth companies, and helping the technology sector recognize the great strides and transformation these companies are making in their respective areas.”

About Deloitte’s 2014 Technology Fast 500

Technology Fast 500, conducted by Deloitte LLP, provides a ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies – both public and private – in North America. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2009 to 2013.

In order to be eligible for Technology Fast 500 recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company’s operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000 USD or CD, and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million USD or CD. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of five years and be headquartered within North America.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated customer engagement platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware, The Software of Things, has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation products and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices. Phunware has a 5-year percentage growth of 17,716% and is a back-to-back Top 100 award winner on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies. The company is currently ranked # 4 on the 2014 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and # 36 on the 2014 Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies. For more information about how Phunware provides Everything You Need to Succeed on Mobile, please visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

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Austin, TX (PRWEB) [July 9, 2014] – Phunware, the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide, has been selected by AlwaysOn as an AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Company award winner. Inclusion in the AlwaysOn Global 250 signifies leadership amongst its peers and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players in the Global Silicon Valley. Phunware was specially selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value and media buzz.

Phunware and the AlwaysOn Global 250 companies will be honored at AlwaysOn’s 12th annual Silicon Valley Innovation Summit 2014 event at the Computer History Museum in the Bay Area on July 29th and 30th.

This two-day exclusive event treats attendees to a high-level debate and discourse on top trends and opportunities in the booming digital media, entertainment, on-demand, and cloud computing sectors. The Innovation Summit is produced in an intimate and social setting, where participants can easily meet up, socially network, and make deals happen.

“As the expansion of the mobile and cloud markets continue, the companies on this year’s AlwaysOn Global 250 are racing to provide business and consumer users with the best products and services.  The new generation of hardware and software solutions is making it possible for businesses to become even more efficient and profitable.  Consumer apps are teaming up with smart advertising and marketing solutions, pairing consumers with goods and services from all across the globe,” says Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. “The Global Silicon Valley is responding to shifting user patterns, as the desktop gives way to mobile devices.  Business users are demanding seamless anytime, anywhere access their information—while consumers continue to ride the bleeding edge, creating and using the most powerful media applications technology has to offer.  More legacy industries are being redefined by the innovation community, making the companies on this year’s AlwaysOn Global 250 the highest-growth opportunities in today’s private company marketplace.”

The AlwaysOn Global 250 winners were selected from among thousands of domestic and international technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists and industry insiders. The AlwaysOn editorial team conducted a rigorous three-month selection process to finalize the 2014 list.

“The AlwaysOn Global 250 recognition highlights Phunware’s current leadership position at the intersection of cloud, SaaS and multiscreen and we are extremely flattered and humbled to have received this award for a second year in a row alongside such a prestigious group of technology pioneers,” said Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman and CEO of Phunware. “Phunware is proud to have created the world’s first native-centric, mobile centric and fully integrated platform that brands, publishers and developers alike can leverage to achieve consistency and standardization across all of their application portfolios on any screen without having to attempt to integrate a variety of disparate point products and solutions.”

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime, anywhere users worldwide. Phunware, The Software of Things, has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation technologies and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices. The company has a 4-year percentage growth of 17,824% and is ranked # 36 on the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, # 40 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and # 1 on Austin Business Journal’s Fast50 list for Central Texas. For more information, please visit https://www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @Phunware.

About AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand connecting and informing the entrepreneurial community in the Global Silicon Valley. Founded by Red Herring founding editor, Tony Perkins in 2003, AlwaysOn’s mission is to continue to lead the industry by empowering its readers, event participants, sponsors, bloggers, and advertisers like no other media brand.

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Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder at Phunware, Inc. recently shared his perspective regarding the importance of accredited angel investors to his entrepreneurial success. Alan is well versed in the world of entrepreneurship. Beyond experience as an angel investor and fund manager, he is a successful serial entrepreneur with multiple exits to companies such as Cisco Systems, Level 3 Communications and Internet Security Systems (now IBM).

What role has angel capital played at Phunware?

Phunware was established in February 2009 and over the first five years we raised approximately $17.5M in angel money. In fact, this was the only type of external capital that we raised during our formative years as we purposefully chose not to take funding from any corporate, venture or institutional investors.

Because of the angel capital that we raised, we were able to achieve tremendous early success and literally exponential growth. The angel money enabled us to hire the people to build our platform and sustain our operations while we built out our sales organizations and filed patents vital to protecting the intellectual property of our business. The bigger balance sheet that we created with angel investment allowed us to grow both organically through our own efforts and inorganically through acquisitions as well. We now employ 230 people and were recently recognized as the fastest growing company in Central Texas (Austin Business Journal Fast50), the fourth fastest growing software company in the United States and the fortieth fastest growing company of any type in the United States (Inc. 500, 2013).

Without raising the angel money, the only way that we would have had to survive and grow would have been through customer contracts and bootstrapping. It may have still been theoretically possible to do what we did, but we most definitely would not have been able to grow at the rate or speed that we have historically and continue to achieve now had we not received the angel money that we did.

Angels also provided us with much more than just money. Our angel investors helped us with needed expertise across many functional areas and also opened their rolodex to help us find customers, partners and other investors. Angels currently sit on our advisory board and help us with our Board of Directors behind-the-scenes. We are extremely open and very candid with our investors at all times and because of this, they are more informed and more able to help us find partners and resources externally so that we can then grow bigger, better and faster.

Your businesses, fueled by angel investment, helped create significant job growth. The SEC is reviewing the accredited investor definition and might propose changes that could reduce the pool of angel investors by 60%. What are your views?

Arguably, if the SEC definition and investment rules were such that the angel investment pool was diminished by 60% when we were raising money, then it is quite likely that we would not currently employ 230 jobs globally, nor would we be growing at the pace that we are today.

Respectfully, why in the world would we ever prevent people from investing their own money in to whatever they wish? It simply makes no sense in a “free country”. Everyone in the United States can buy a home, or provide tens of thousands of dollars to a political campaign, but they might be unable to invest in the cornerstone of economic growth and wealth creation – entrepreneurs? We have all met extremely wealthy people in our lives that are far from what we would call “sophisticated” and we have also met a lot of amazing people with incredible talents and expertise who don’t officially meet the definition of being an “accredited investor”.

I was an entrepreneur before I ever had the financial status to be an angel investor or could meet the official legal meaning of being either “accredited” or “sophisticated”. Once I was accredited, however, I made a lot of Angel investments. Some did not work out, but many of them did. In fact, 3 of them … Vonage, Bazaarvoice and RingCentral actually became publicly traded companies while several others were acquired along the way. To put the types of gains possible in perspective, one of the angel investments that my wife Kelly and I made more than 10 years ago was in RingCentral. So far, this investment has returned a multiple of nearly 300 times the money that we originally put in. As you can imagine, you can have someone putting a small amount in to a deal – even $5,000 in a situation like RingCentral – and it would provide nearly $1.5M in returns. This kind of outcome is simply amazing and it begs the only logical question as a result. Namely, why in the world would our government actively encourage someone to waste money on “investments” such as lottery tickets, but then prevent them from making an adult decision and investing their own money in an entrepreneurial venture.

Yes, it is true that someone could lose their investment. But then again, that is the case with everything else in life as well … cars, homes, physical assets, trading cards, mutual funds, bonds and so on and so on. Personally, I have had a wonderful experience being an angel investor. Not only have I had the chance to invest in some great companies, but I have also grown as an investor and individual while building amazing life-long relationships and learned a ton form all cross sections of the community tied to the global start-up ecosystem. I couldn’t imagine being actively prevented from being able to plug in to this type of a network.

I firmly believe that the only way to create economic growth and ultimately wealth is through entrepreneurs. I think that if the United States is truly going to be a free country, then we have to let people do what they want with their own money. Entrepreneurs create the ideas that create the companies that create the jobs that create the wealth … for themselves, their employees, their directors, their advisors and their investors. Why would we want to stop this process? Are we really going to say that we are a free enterprise, representative democracy and then prevent free and law abiding citizens to invest their own money in whatever business endeavors that they want? That clearly makes absolutely no sense at all and it should never be done. Ever.

The post Protect Angel Funding: The View of an Active Angel Entrepreneur appeared first on Phunware.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) [June 23, 2014] – Phunware, the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide, today announced that it has closed its $30.72 million Series E funding with a new strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (“SVIC” or “Samsung Ventures”), the venture arm of the Samsung Group.

The second and final closing of the round supplements prior investments by Firsthand Technology Value Fund (NASDAQ: SVVC), Fraser McCombs Ventures, Cisco, WWE (NYSE: WWE), Maxima Ventures, Wild Basin Investment and the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN). The investment brings the total raised by Phunware to $48.25 million.

Founded in 2009, and headquartered in Austin, Phunware has achieved dramatic growth since inception and closed 2013 with revenues of $22.1M. The company currently supports more than 1 trillion annual transactions on its “multiscreen cloud platform” across nearly 190 countries and 10 languages.

Phunware, The Software of Things, is ranked # 36 on the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, # 40 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and # 1 on Austin Business Journal’s Fast50 list for Central Texas. The company is responsible for multiscreen infrastructure, software and application development services for an impressive list of top-tier customers including E! Entertainment Television, NBC Sports, WWE, NASCAR, CBS, Qualcomm, Edmunds, Jawbone, HomeAway, Turner, UHealth, Transamerica, King, Warner Brothers, AT&T and Adobe amongst many others.

“Our investment in Phunware is consistent with our strategy to work closely with established market leaders,” said Michael Pachos, Principal of SVIC. “Phunware is a technology leader and has built a significant business in the MaaS space. The company has demonstrated both a technical and business vision in the industry and we look forward to contributing to the progress their operations.”

Phunware’s fully-integrated, native and mobile-first solutions make it easy for any brand to add multiscreen application support for content management, location based services, advertising, alerts and notifications and business intelligence and analytics through the use of a single login on a single platform with a single partner. This unique and comprehensive solutions-based approach reduces both the cost and complexity that brands have been forced to tolerate historically with an ecosystem filled with fragmented, incomplete and non-integrated point products.

“We are extremely excited to add SVIC as a strategic investor for our business,” commented Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “Samsung Ventures has a 14+ year track record of investing in leading venture-backed companies and through our relationship with SVIC we are looking forward to deepening our relationship with the Samsung Group globally.”

For more information about current and upcoming products, as well as case studies from Phunware’s impressive list of global brands, please visit www.phunware.com.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware, The Software of Things, has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation technologies and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices. The company has a 4 year percentage growth of 17,824% and is ranked # 36 on the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, # 40 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and # 1 on Austin Business Journal’s Fast50 list for Central Texas. For more information, please visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @Phunware.

About Samsung Venture Investment Corporation

Samsung Venture Investment Corporation manages investment and investment-related activities for Samsung affiliate companies. The investment mandate for SVIC tracks closely to the strategic priorities of Samsung affiliate companies’ core operating divisions and encompasses investments in semiconductors, displays, telecommunications and consumer electronics.

The post Investment from Samsung Ventures Completes Phunware’s $30.72 Million Financing Round appeared first on Phunware.

• Mark Friedman, Accruent
• John Erwin, Carenet in San Antonio
• Zeynep Young, Double Line Partners
• Aubra and Susan Franklin, Franklin Companies in San Antonio
• Kendra Scott, Kendra Scott Designs Inc.
• Chris Hester, Kinnser Software
• Matt Stuart and Andrew Allison, Main Street Hub
• Sam Decker, Mass Relevance
• Alan S. Knitowski, Phunware Inc.
• Gay Gaddis, T-3 (The Think Tank)

2014 Key program dates:
Finalist reception – May 8, 2014

Awards gala
Hilton Downtown Austin
500 E 4th Street
Austin, TX

The post Phunware CEO Nominated for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year appeared first on Phunware.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) [March 18, 2014] – Phunware, the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide, today announced that it has raised $26.25 million of Series E funding led by Firsthand Technology Value Fund (NASDAQ: SVVC). The balance of the oversubscribed $30 million funding round is expected to close in the next 60 days.

The initial closing of the round includes additional investment by current investors Fraser McCombs Ventures, Maxima Ventures, Wild Basin Investment and the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), as well as new strategic investors Cisco and WWE (NYSE: WWE). The investment brings the total raised by Phunware to $43M. With the investment, Kevin Landis, Chairman and President of Firsthand, and Chase Fraser, Managing Partner of Fraser McCombs Capital, join Phunware’s board of directors.

Founded in 2009, and headquartered in Austin, Phunware has achieved dramatic growth since inception and closed 2013 with revenues of $22.1M. The company currently supports more than 1 trillion annual transactions on its “multiscreen cloud platform” across nearly 190 countries and 10 languages. Phunware, The Software of Things, is ranked # 36 on the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, # 40 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and # 1 on Austin Business Journal’s Fast50 list for Central Texas. The company is responsible for multiscreen infrastructure, software and application development services for an impressive list of top-tier customers including E! Entertainment Television, NBC Sports, WWE, NASCAR, CBS, Qualcomm, Edmunds, Jawbone, HomeAway, Turner, UHealth, Transamerica, King, Warner Brothers, AT&T and Adobe amongst many others.

“Phunware has proven its ability to support the largest brands in the world on the largest stages in the world at scale,” said Kevin Landis, Chairman and President of Firsthand. “We are extremely excited to be joining the Phunware team and equally enthusiastic about the company’s multiscreen platform vision for the future.”

Forrester estimates that the Mobile Services Market will soar to $32.4 billion globally by 2018[i] and that mobile engagement providers will need strong end-to-end competencies in order to act as providers of record. In parallel, eMarketer estimates that Mobile Ad Spending will balloon to $72.3 billion by 2017[ii], up nearly 10 times over 2012 spending levels. As a result, there is market opportunity exceeding $100 billion for those brands interested in engaging, managing and monetizing the 50 billion connected devices expected to compose the Internet of Things by 2020[iii].

Phunware’s fully-integrated, native and mobile-first solutions make it easy for any brand to add multiscreen application support for content management, location based services, advertising, alerts and notifications and business intelligence and analytics through the use of a single login on a single platform with a single partner. This unique and comprehensive solutions-based approach reduces both the cost and complexity that brands have been forced to tolerate historically with an ecosystem filled with fragmented, incomplete and non-integrated point products.

“We continue to have a very ambitious vision for Phunware – to enable our customers to engage, manage and monetize every connected device on Earth,” commented Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “We have achieved tremendous growth since inception and this new funding will further accelerate our MaaS platform investments and geographic reach in supporting the multiscreen goals and objectives of our brands’ anytime anywhere audiences globally.  50 billion devices will mean 50 billion opportunities … and we intend to touch them all.”

For more information about current and upcoming products, as well as case studies from Phunware’s impressive list of global brands, please visit www.phunware.com.

About Phunware

Phunware is the pioneer of Multiscreen as a Service (MaaS), the first fully integrated services platform that enables brands to engage, manage and monetize their anytime anywhere users worldwide. Phunware, The Software of Things, has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation technologies and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices. The company has a 4 year percentage growth of 17,824% and is ranked # 36 on the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, # 40 on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and # 1 on Austin Business Journal’s Fast50 list for Central Texas. For more information, please visit www.phunware.com and follow us on Twitter @phunware.

About Firsthand Technology Value Fund

Firsthand Technology Value Fund, Inc., is a publicly-traded venture capital fund that invests in technology and cleantech companies. The Fund offers retail investors an opportunity to invest in pre-IPO companies that typically are available only to institutional and high net worth investors. More information about the Fund and its holdings can be found online at www.firsthandtvf.com.

About Fraser McCombs Ventures

Fraser McCombs Ventures, LP, specializes in early and mid stage technology investments, with a focus in mobile and niche technology within specific verticals. For more information, please visit www.fmcap.com.

About Maxima Ventures

Maxima Ventures are investment vehicles under the management of Maxima Capital Management, Inc., which is based in Taiwan and specializes in early and mid stage investments in technology, supply chain, e-commerce and mobile applications. For more information, please visit www.maximavc.com.

About Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN)

The Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), an organized Angel Investing network of approximately 120 members, is one of the largest Angel Networks in the nation. In 2013 alone, CTAN led the nation in deal flow[iv] and ranked # 4 for invested capital, funding 33 companies for over $9.6M. CTAN was founded in 2007, and has invested over $40M in approximately 90 startup companies.

About WWE

WWE, a publicly traded company, is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 150 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Miami, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Munich and Tokyo. Additional information on WWE can be found at www.wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.

ⁱ John C. McCarthy and Ted Schadler, with Khalid Kark and Nancy Wang, “Wanted: Mobile Engagement Providers,” Forrester Research, August 6, 2013.
ⁱⁱ “Across Industries, Mobile Ad Spend Increases Dramatically,” eMarketer, January 2, 2014.
ⁱⁱⁱ Jeffrey Burt, “Cisco CEO Chambers to Focus on Internet of Everything at CES,” eWEEK.com, January 6, 2014.
^iv Christopher Calnan, “Austin-area angel investing tops the nation,” October 16, 2013.

VIEW FULL PRESS RELEASE

The post Phunware Raises $30 Million to Accelerate Global Leadership in Multiscreen Software Solutions for Up to 50 Billion Connected Devices appeared first on Phunware.

Founded in 2009, and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Phunware has introduced category-defining experiences that challenge the outer limits of the most advanced connected devices for the world’s most respected brands and develops next-generation technologies and solutions that transform how the world interacts with and uses these connected devices.

Phunware, The Software of Things, ranked 36th overall on the list and concluded 2013 with full year revenues of $22.1M.

With this recognition, Phunware joins Fuhu, Craftsy and Thrillist. Forbes’ J.J. Colao described the process of determining America’s Most Promising Companies, “Over the course of four months, we reviewed hundreds of applications from businesses across the country. The final assessment is based on growth (both in sales and hiring), quality of management team and investors, margins, market size and key partnerships. Then we spoke to each company to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

“We had a very ambitious vision for Phunware from inception – to enable our customers to engage, manage and monetize every connected device on Earth,” commented Alan S. Knitowski, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Phunware. “Obviously we are incredibly humbled and honored to have been recognized by Forbes for this award and look forward to potentially becoming one of the ‘unicorns’ highlighted by Mr. Colao in the near future.”

We’re confident that many of these [companies] are the IPOs and billion-dollar acquisitions of tomorrow.” –J.J. Colao, Forbes

VIEW FULL PRESS RELEASE

The post Phunware Named to Forbes Most Promising Companies List appeared first on Phunware.

According to the Academy’s website:

The power to help drive society forward is within all of us. Each person has it within them to make an impact on society in their own way. Here at Secret Entourage we believe that innovation comes from people, people wanting to make a difference, and therefore created a site dedicated to bringing all those people together and giving them a voice to help inspire others. We believe that entrepreneurship is an art that can help individuals bring value to those around them ultimately helping to bring about the true purpose of our own potential.”

Here is a link to the video:
http://www.secretentourage.com/academy/alan-knitowski/

The post Secret Entourage Academy – Alan Knitowski appeared first on Phunware.