India-based mobile advertising technology provider InMobi Group has spun off mobile content distribution platform Glance with $45m in funding from investment firm Mithril Capital Management.
Glance has developed an artificial intelligence-equipped mobile app that lets smartphone owners access web content along with messages from its partner brands from the homescreen of their devices.
The app is currently available in India and Indonesia but Glance will use the fresh capital to add more markets in Southeast Asia in the upcoming months. It also plans to launch dedicated platforms for video, gaming, commerce and local news content.
InMobi works with Android smartphone manufacturers and claims 70% of new smartphones in India now come with its lock screen activated by default.
Mithril’s co-founder, Ajay Royan, has joined Glance’s board of directors in connection with the deal.
Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO of InMobi, said: “Glance is changing the landscape of content consumption to address the demands of the ‘attention economy’ we currently live in. By bringing discovery and consumption of personalised, short-form content to screen zero, Glance provides the immediacy and accessibility that consumers want.”