MMC leads $7m series-A for Ably

Forward Partners co-invested, drawing equity from its £81m early-stage fund.

MMC invested from its MMC Greater London Fund, which closed on £52m in May 2019. The fund forms part of the Mayor of London's  Greater London Investment Fund initiative.

The fresh capital will go towards developing the firm's platform, building more features for event-driven platforms and supporting more open protocols.

In the past year, Ably has welcomed to the team Gary Barnes as its chief commercial officer; Barnes was formerly global head of sales at ThoughtWorks. Meanwhile, two hires were made from software developer Improbable: Vinay Bhindi joined as finance and operations director, and Ben Gamble as head of developer relations.

Previous funding
In 2016, angel investor Ashley Friedlein contributed an undisclosed amount to Ably.

In 2017, Forward Partners participated in a $1m funding round for the company. Later that year, Wayne Churchill and the London Co-Investment Fund provided £200,000.

Company
Ably provides cloud infrastructure and application programming interfaces that allow developers to deliver instant messaging, transit updates and live scores. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in London.

People
MMC Ventures – Dan Bailey (principal).
Ably – Matthew O'Riordan (CEO).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland
• Technology
• Venture
• United Kingdom
• MMC Ventures