IDG Ventures India, part of the global network of corporate venturing funds operating under the International Data Group banner, has invested $3m in series A funding in the India-based mobile advertising company Vserv.
Founded last year, Vserv operates a mobile application-based advertising network which focuses on emerging markets.
Vserv claims the equity represents the first venture capital investment in mobile advertising in India since 2008, and the investment follows IDG India’s backing of India-based mobile device-oriented companies Sourcebits, 3DSoc, Apalya and Kreeda.
Manik Arora, managing director at IDG Ventures India, said: "While the mobile advertising industry is still relatively young, it is experiencing rapid growth driven by mobile internet growth and mobile apps growth. Within this, emerging markets are critical given their large and growing mobile phone installed bases.
"The global In-App advertising market will grow from $900m this year to roughly $5bn in 2015 according to IDC [a market intelligence company]. Having researched this dynamic market for the last year, we found Vserv taking a leadership role with their unique proposition for developers."