Our sister blog Corporate Dealmaker notes the important role for
Medio Systems Inc. in the proposed mobile search
partnership between Verizon Communications Inc. [
VZ] and Google Inc. [
GOOG]. The startup, which makes
a search engine for mobile phones and other handheld devices, is expected to serve as the
technological go-between for the partners, which as CDM says is a "
sweet
gig" for a four-year-old startup.
Medio has raised at least $45 million in venture funding from
backers
including Accel Partners; Mohr, Davidow Ventures; Frazier Technology
Ventures; Dot Edu Ventures; and Triology Equity Partners. The company manages
search for Verizon and plans to expand its existing overseas business (its other customers once included
mobile virtual network operator Amp'd Mobile Inc.--remember them?) Medio
CEO Brian Lent formed Medio as a Mohr Davidow entrepreneur-in-residence in 2004. "The upside is so huge right
now, with 2.1 billion mobile users, there's a high likelihood that it
will eclipse Internet usage," he told us last year in discussing the growth of the wireless Web. "If you think of developing nations,
the mobile phone is their PC; it's their access to the Internet." -- Alain Sherter
See Aug. 22 post on Medio from Corporate Dealmaker
See April 2007 story on mobile search startups from TheDeal.com
For more see John Cook's Venture Blog, FierceMobileContent and Between the Lines
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