InMobi: How we'll spend that $200m

And its division one status was emphatically confirmed in September when the firm announced it had secured a $200m investment from Japanese operator Softbank.

$200m!

It put all previous mobile content related investments into a cocked hat, and gave the strongest indication to date of investor confidence in the mobile ad sector's long term potential. 

We caught up again with Tawari...

Wow, $200m. Are you driving a gold Ferrari?

No, same car as before. Too busy to change it! And I think the investors would think there are better things to do with the money.

So what better things?

It really gives us the ability to go to the next level in three ways. First is in terms of personnel. We've been building the team for years, but now we can go deep. Currently we have 15 offices; I can see us opening 15 more in the next 12 to 18 months.

Then there's the tech resource, which has been based in India till now. We can build this up and take it into new regions. Finally, there are acquisitions in certain strategic areas.

The network is very solid, and our SmartPay payments product is doing well, so the areas we need to look at are technologies and IP that complement what we do. 

Examples?

Well, one is Sprout, which we bought to enhance our HTML5 ad offering. We're looking at similar purchases to improve our capabilities in areas like video, LBS, data management and so on.

What does Softbank want from this investment?

They feel like we do – that mobile advertising is a multi-billion dollar opportunity which will be dominated by a small number of global players. It's a pure investment. There's no exit element to it.

Overall, the proportion of time spent on digital platform and within that mobile is growing. Within five years, it will eclipse digital. And it will be hard for new players to enter the market. The time to establish yourself in the space is now.

So who are the global players?

Google of course. Also to a degree Millennial, Buzz City and Adfonic although they're all strong in their home territories. Then there are lots of local networks we compete against all over the world.

Which regions are you targeting now?

Obviously we see opportunities in all regions. We'd like to be stronger in China and Latin America.

What makes you so confident brands are engaging with mobile advertising?

I'll give you a stat. In 2010, 50 of the Fortune 1000 advertised with InMobi; in 2011 to date it's been 250. Big brands are engaging with the media, and improvements in rich media, analytics and targeting are encouraging more to come aboard. I think the market will grow by 3x next year.

InMobi has its roots in India, where feature phones still prevail. How do you feel about the smartphone/feature phone split?

95 per cent of our focus is smartphones. I realise there are vast regions where smartphones are not in use – and data plans don't exist – but the work there on feature is mostly done. So we really need to work towards a world where 65 to 70 per cent of devices are smartphones, which will be in two to three years.