Somo raises $5.5m from MMC Ventures et al.

Somo will use the fresh funding to develop a new mobile app tracking product named Lithient App Tracker.

"Somo is a substantial business already; there's a really significant team there and they've already got the business to a significant position of size and strength," says Rory Stirling, partner at MMC. "The current funding round is really to build on the technology and the software that they're developing on the back end of the business."

MMC first backed the firm in April 2013, committing capital from MMC London Fund. The £14m vehicle backs London-based businesses. The initial capital injection was designed to expand and develop Somo's licensed mobile technology products and platforms.

"I knew the team by reputation before I met them," says Stirling. "Each of them have been involved in building companies before. I was introduced to a member of the management team by someone I'd met at a conference who said I should really meet them, as the leading company in the space in London. Everyone I spoke to since then, prior to investment, confirmed that they really are the best in the space."

Company
Founded in 2009 and based in London, Somo is a mobile advertising solutions business that aims to increase sales, develop customer engagement and boost productivity for its users. Clients include Tesco and British Gas.

"Somo is quite unusual in that they have a number of different facets to their business. But broadly, they're a mobile solutions business for enterprise customers. Every single FTSE CEO has been seriously challenged in the past couple of years to develop a mobile strategy, which means not just what they do for their customers, but also what they do for their own employees internally," says Stirling. "The majority of these companies don't have that level of expertise in-house to solve those challenges, and Somo does. They've built a phenomenal team of close to 200 mobile experts in London and other offices."

Since MMC's initial investment, Somo has hired an additional 60 staff including mobile engineers as well as executives specialising in social media and customer loyalty. Somo has offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin and Singapore, and has a total headcount of 180.

People
Rory Stirling is a partner at MMC and worked on the deal.

Advisers
Company - GP Bullhound (Corporate finance).

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