Advertising technology unicorn InMobi has secured about $100 million (Rs 839.5 crore) in debt from Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture between Japanese financial group MUFG and New York-based investment firm Liquidity Group.
It will use the capital to deepen its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and finance its AI-focused inorganic bets, the company said in a statement.
“AI is the bedrock of both InMobi’s consumer and enterprise businesses, and we are using it to power the lock screen experiences and InMobi Advertising’s platforms,” said Naveen Tewari, chief executive of InMobi. “We are reimagining how ads can be made truly native by driving superior engagement and outcomes for consumers, advertisers and publishers.”
InMobi, the country’s first unicorn that secured the coveted tag in 2011, is reportedly planning for a public listing in 2025, as it also shifts its domicile to India. The 17-year-old company was Softbank’s first investment in India in 2011.
It also owns another unicorn Glance, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven lock-screen live content and commerce platform, that is backed by technology giant Google and Silicon Valley-based venture fund Mithril Capital.
“AI is redefining the way businesses operate and create value, and InMobi is well-positioned to leverage its capabilities across multiple spaces in consumer and advertising technology,” said Navas Ebin, head of APAC and managing director at Liquidity Group and MARS Growth Capital.
M&A is not an entirely new theme for InMobi. The company last year bought consent management platform Quantcast Choice for an undisclosed sum.
In 2021, it announced a couple of acquisitions to fuel its expansion plans. It had announced plans to acquire Shop101, a social commerce platform backed by venture capital firms such as Kalaari Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners, in a bid to allow its B2C products access to an e-commerce technology platform and a comprehensive supply chain infrastructure.
Later that year, it had also signed a pact to acquire London-based insights platform for mobile app advertisers Appsumer for an undisclosed amount, with plans to build an operating system that helps understanding user acquisition funnels better and leverages AI to build predictive capabilities.
