A consortium including media group Walt Disney’s corporate venturing unit has invested $8m in two US-based mobile communications analysis companies to help them merge and form Mobile Intelligence Solutions.
Alongside Disney’s Steamboat Ventures in the deal were private equity firm Openair Equity Partners, and venture capital (VC) firms North Bridge Venture Partners, Voyager Capital and Emergence Capital.
Mobile Intelligence Solutions was formed out of Umber Systems and Ground Truth but will continue to operate as separate divisions with Umber operating a carrier analysis service while Ground Truth provides mobile market intelligence.
Openair, Steamboat, Emergence and Voyager had all participated in Ground Truth’s $7m series B round in April last year. Steamboat and Voyager were also among the investors in Ground Truth’s A round, which raised an undisclosed sum, and also included fellow VC firm Seapoint Ventures. North Bridge had previously backed Umber Systems, which has raised an undisclosed sum.
Beau Laskey, board member and managing director of Steamboat Ventures, said: "In the past year we have seen the demand for more accurate, actionable measurement of mobile internet usage from marketers, advertisers, and media companies as well as our carrier data partners. The creation of Mobile Intelligence Solutions allows us to provide the industry with exactly the type of insights and measures it has been demanding."