FusionOne raises $6M for mobile content backup services
San Jose-based FusionOne has raised $6 million in a Series A-1 preferred stock round for its mobile content backup services.
The company was founded a decade ago to create applications and services for mobile device users.
It started out with a synchronization technology platform. It allowed users to securely sync files such as e-mail, calendar, browser settings and music between their computers and mobile phones. In 2001, it added wireless support and has helped the industry create a standard for mobile synchronization. The next year it created the MightyPhone service for automatic mobile contact updating.
Then in 2004, it launched its automatic backup service for mobile devices. Carriers such as Verizon use the service and have branded it with their own names, such as Verizon Backup Assistant. The company says that Backup Assistant is a top ten revenue generator for Verizon.
I actually use the Backup Assistant and gladly pay $2 a month to Verizon for the service. If I lose my phone, I risk losing all of my contacts. But I can ask Verizon to tap the Backup Assistant and download those contacts back into any new replacement phone that I activate. That’s piece of mind. For the carrier, it’s an important service revenue that is necessary in an age when revenues from voice are inexorably headed downward.
The round was funded by El Dorado Ventures, Nokia Ventures, and Vesbridge Partners.
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About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.