Singapore-based social communications company Bubble Motion has raised a $5m series E round led by Japan-based private equity investor JAFCO with participation from existing investors.
Bubble has now raised $50m in venture funding. In January 2011, the firm raised a $10m series D round led by SingTel Innov8, the venture arm of Singapore Telecommunications, with backing from venture firms Sequoia Capital, Palomar Ventures, and Infocomm Investments, all of whom participated in the latest series E round. They were also joined by manufacturing organisation NGP.
Prior to raising a $6m series C round in June 2009 from undisclosed backers, Bubble raised a $10m series A in September 2006 and a $14m series B round in March 2008, both of which were led by Sequoia. The series B round was joined by Comcast Ventures and NGP in participation. The firm also picked up $5m in angel funding from undisclosed investors back in March 2004.
Bubble plan to use the funding to expand their operational presence and to target a wider global market.
“We have known Bubble Motion for quite some time and have always been impressed by the caliber of the core team in Singapore,” says Murli Ravi, head of South Asia for JAFCO, “and after we saw their phenomenal growth in Japan as well as the other countries in Asia, we felt like we really wanted to be an investor in the company.”
Bubble’s social media platform allows users in India, Japan, and Indonesia to communicate Twitter-style but with voice clips rather than text.