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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Bitbar Secures $3 Million Financing Round to Advance Its Mobile Application Testing Platform
Helsinki, Finland – April 17, 2013 – Bitbar, the creator behind the most popular cloud-based Android testing platform, announced that it has completed a $3 million (USD) financing round.
The round is led by Creathor Venture (Frankfurt, Germany), DFJ Esprit (London), Finnvera Venture Capital (Finland), and Qualcomm Incorporated, acting through its venture investment group, Qualcomm Ventures, with additional funding from TEKES (Finland) financing.
Bitbar will use the funding to expand its rapidly growing mobile developer tools beyond Android, iOS and HTML5 that are currently supported, as well as beyond just testing.
“We are witnessing the renaissance of the mobile developer,” says Marko Kaasila, CEO, Bitbar. "We have seen more than 40 percent month-to-month growth on new users and more than 50 percent growth in monthly revenues. This financing round will allow us to grow our platform even further and provide our customers with a fully integrated development, testing and deployment experience for all relevant mobile platforms."
“Bitbar’s disruptive technology has the potential to revolutionize the entire mobile software development process,” says Marc Biel, Investment Manager at Creathor Venture. “The company has made excellent progress in a very short time and is very well positioned for the future.”
Bitbar offers high-performance mobile software development and testing solutions that are based on widely adopted open standards. Testdroid by Bitbar is the easiest to use automated cloud-based testing solution for mobile apps, testing applications on over 200 real devices in minutes, including smartphones, tablet computers, and even cameras.
"At DFJ Esprit we have a global outlook. World class teams are at the heart of every business we invest in. We are committed to backing the very best European talent right here at home to create businesses that can win in global markets. Bitbar’s customer traction in the Android developer market and the pace this market is developing is what made this investment stand out” said Scott Sage, principal, DFJ Esprit, a Pan European VC firm with more than $1 billion under management and whose recent investments include Datahug, Sport Pursuit and Lyst.
Bitbar’s top tier customer list includes companies from around the world, including Ancestry.com, BMW, Critical Path, eBay (US and UK), Evernote, Facebook, Flipboard, Google, LivingSocial, Lookout, PayPal, Pinterest, Saffron Digital, SoundCloud, Swiftkey, Tesco, The Weather Channel, Top Free Games and Wooga.
About Bitbar
Bitbar is a technology and services company that provides high-performance mobile software development and testing solutions based on widely adopted open standards. The company’s flagship cloud-based Android testing solution, Testdroid Cloud, is the first automated, real-time testing tool for mobile application developers. The company also offers Testdroid Recorder to automatically generate standards-based test scripts and Testdroid Server for companies to build in-house test labs. Bitbar helps accelerate time to market and lowers costs of developing software on mobile platforms – from smartphones to tablet computers and even cameras. The company is funded by Creathor Venture (Frankfurt, Germany), DFJ Esprit (London), Finnvera Venture Capital (Finland), and Qualcomm Ventures. Bitbar is based in Helsinki, Finland and Silicon Valley. Follow Bitbar and Testdroid on Twitter at @bitbar. For more information, see http://www.bitbar.com/.
About Creathor Venture
As a leading European Venture Capital firm, Creathor Venture invests in technology-oriented companies and entrepreneurs. The focus is particularly on mobile, e-, m-, s-commerce, media, cloud, life science, mobile health and diagnostics. Regional focus is on Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia. The current portfolio of more than 30 companies is actively supported in development, growth and internationalization by our team of 15 staff. The management team of Creathor Venture consists of the founder of the former Technologieholding VC GmbH, Dr Gert Köhler as well as Ingo Franz, Cédric Köhler and Karlheinz Schmelig. The team has built more than 200 technology companies successfully, conducted more than 20 international IPOs and has achieved exceptional returns for fund investors and the financed entrepreneurs in the past.
Creathor Venture manages funds of more than EUR 180 million (USD 240 mio) and currently has four Offices in Germany (near Frankfurt & Munich), in Zurich and in Stockholm.
The investors of the current fund include the European Union, through which the fund receives funding from the "Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme" (CIP), and the "ERP EIF fund of funds" and the LfA – Gesellschaft für Vermögensverwaltung mbH, both facilities of the European Investment Fund ("EIF"), fund of funds, family offices and entrepreneurs. As the largest investor in Creathor the management underlines its entrepreneurial orientation.
About DFJ Esprit
DFJ Esprit is a leading cross-stage venture capital firm that invests from seed to late stage in European technology and media companies. Members of the DFJ Esprit team have experience of investing in over 200 companies and generating strong returns for investors through building valuable companies alongside the founders and management teams. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European partner for the Silicon Valley-based DFJ Network with offices in over 30 cities around the world. http://www.dfjesprit.com/
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