For most folks, news of heightened venture capital activity, especially when centered on a particular hot industry trend, should conjure a very appealing mental image: Jobs.
Today, LifeStreet Media, a mobile advertising platform vendor, announced a $66 million investment from Nautic Partners. In addition to providing liquidity for investors, the money will be used to fund both market and technology development.
In an e-mail to RCR Wireless News, Melissa Sobel, Director of Marketing for LifeStreet commented that, “The investment provides for capital to fuel growth in three core areas of the business. … The company will be investing in its social in-app advertising business, its mobile in-app advertising business, and its core RevJet platform.”
Broadly speaking, these growth plans suggest that LifeStreet will likely need to invest in additional human capital in areas such as business development and technical marketing personnel as well as in engineering roles.
Already well positioned in the in-app ad market, the new injection of liquidity should help LifeStreet build on an already formidable time-to-market advantage. In Lifestreet’s press announcement, Bernie Buonanno, managing director of Nuatic Partners said that, “LifeStreet sits in the middle of a number of growing trends—social media, mobile devices, apps, social games and online advertising. Given LifeStreet’s proven business model and competitive advantages, we believe the company is extremely well positioned for significant continued growth.”
However, while LifeStreet is riding high, the fact that in-app advertising is such a hot area means that the company should have no shortage of competition growing larger its rear view mirrors. In fact, the day before LifeStreet’s announcement, in-app video ad company Vungle closed on a $2 million early stage funding round. Given the explosive proliferation of mobile devices, and the need to monetize the broadband traffic that these devices create in any way possible, in-app advertising should have plenty of room for new companies to come in and help the likes of LifeStreet expand this market’s revenue pie. A quick glance at Vungle’s website makes it clear to see that, in pursuit of this goal, the company is actively looking to add headcount in both California and the UK.
