Bitbar, a Finland-based testing service for mobile phone applications used by companies including LinkedIn and Facebook, has raised $3m in its series A round from a consortium including Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the eponymous US chip maker.
Also in the round were venture capital and state-backed investment firms Creathor Venture, which led the round, DFJ Esprit and Finnvera Venture Capital.
Jason Ball, director at Qualcomm Ventures Europe, by email said: “On the strategic side, there are 1.5 million Android phones being activated every day now…supporting a company that eases one of the pains of Android development- fragmentation means there’s a path to more and better apps on the platform, which helps drive sales of handsets, and ultimately, Qualcomm chipsets.”
Last year, Bitbar, which provides the Testdroid platform, raised an undisclosed amount in its seed round from Seed Fund Vera and five angels, including Frederic Lardieg, then a principal at corporate venturing unit Vodafone Ventures before his move to VC firm Octopus.
Lardieg said by email: “The company and the angels are really pleased with the syndicate that joined this A round. It’s great to have Jason [Ball at Qualcomm Ventures] and Qualcomm on board!
“Unfortunately, Octopus couldn’t look at Bitbar as it is not a [tax-efficient] VCT/EIS qualifying company.”