ATLANTA, Nov. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mobile Experience Platform leader Kobiton announces the acquisition of best-in-class on-premises mobile testing platform, Mobile Labs Inc. The combined platform will allow developers and QA teams to deliver apps faster with higher quality by leveraging artificial intelligence across real-devices spanning cloud and on-premises deployments.
The acquisition was funded by BIP Capital and Fulcrum Equity Partners (with Jim Douglass joining the Board of Directors), and support from Kobiton seed investors KMS Technology, Kinetic Ventures, Jon Hallett and Ken Walters.
Since its launch in 2017, Kobiton’s customer base has grown to include the most iconic brands globally. Companies the world over are under increasing pressure to release higher quality apps at a blistering pace. Striving for daily or weekly release cycles are challenging, in part due to tremendous device fragmentation, fragile or brittle test scripts and a lack of developer and testing tools to deliver perfect mobile experiences.
“Mobile Labs perfectly helps Kobiton deliver on our vision of what a mobile experience platform should be,” said Kevin Lee, CEO of Kobiton. “Leveraging our flexible deployment model along with our leading AI testing technology, coupled with Mobile Labs’ industry leading on-premises device deployment, leads to the most comprehensive mobile testing solution on the market today.”
“We saw a huge opportunity to improve the testing experience for our customers even further, especially with the maturity of AI and machine learning,” said Dan McFall, CEO of Mobile Labs. “The combined Mobile Labs and Kobiton platform will deliver on that vision on-premises, in the cloud or as a hybrid solution for the most demanding organizations in the world.”
Jim Douglass, Partner at Fulcrum Equity Partners, said, “As digital acceleration intensifies globally, organizations need new and innovative ways to accelerate mobile app delivery without sacrificing quality. Companies are increasingly reliant on their mobile channel to drive revenue or operational improvements, necessitating a strong focus on the overall mobile experience.”
“We are excited to lead this funding round, and continue supporting the innovative mobile testing technology platform being built at Kobiton,” said Dan Drechsel, Partner at BIP Capital. “As the world continues to digitize and mobile technologies are prioritized, we believe that Kobiton, with its focus on building the leading native mobile testing technology platform, is going to be a clear category winner. Coupling state-of-the-art AI and automation testing technology, along with the best-in-class on-premises device cart, enables Development and QA teams to deliver perfect mobile experiences to minimize app abandonment and improve revenue conversion in the mobile channel, all with a faster time-to-market.”
“We are thrilled by the caliber of our investors, who see the disruptive nature of our platform and share our vision. The excellent technology and team from Mobile Labs will further fuel our growth as we continue to execute on our vision of being the most comprehensive mobile test platform in the market,” added Lee.
About Kobiton
Kobiton is the mobile experience platform trusted by leading organizations globally. Our best-in-class software platform helps drive improved revenue on the mobile channel by lowering app abandonment, improving quality and reducing time-to-market. Used by over 60,000 developers and testers worldwide, Kobiton is transforming the way companies deliver mobile apps through innovative applications of Artificial Intelligence, Real-Device Testing and the industry’s first and only mobile scriptless automation solution. There's a reason the world's mobile elite choose Kobiton to deliver perfect mobile experiences for their users.
About Mobile Labs
Since the first install in 2012, Mobile Labs remains the leading supplier of in-house mobile device clouds that connect remote, shared smartphones and tablets to Global 2000 mobile web, gaming, and app engineering teams. The company's patented GigaFox™ is offered on-premises or hosted, and solves mobile device sharing and management challenges that arise during development, debugging, manual testing, and automated testing. A pre-installed and pre-configured Appium server with custom tools provides "instant on" Appium test automation. GigaFox enables scheduling, collaboration, user management, security, mobile DevOps, and continuous automated testing for mobility teams spread across the globe and can connect cloud devices to an industry-leading number of third-party tools such as XCode, Android Studio, and many commercial test automation tools.
About BIP Capital
BIP Capital is recognized as one of the most active and successful venture investors in the Southeast, serving entrepreneurs, investors and operators to grow the emerging company ecosystem. It applies experience and process to make investment decisions and operational recommendations, allowing its portfolio companies to achieve and stay on a glide path of growth. Areas of focus include Enterprise SaaS, Healthcare IT, Digital Media, Dev Tools and MarTech. For more information, visit www.bip-capital.com or follow BIP Capital on LinkedIn or Twitter @BIPCapital.
About Fulcrum Equity Partners
Fulcrum Equity Partners is an Atlanta-based growth equity firm that manages over $500 million and provides expansion capital to rapidly growing companies led by strong entrepreneurs and management teams. Fulcrum targets companies within healthcare services, healthcare IT, B2B software, and technology-enabled services. Fulcrum’s initial target investment is $3 million - $15 million to provide financing to meet a wide range of needs, including internal growth initiatives, acquisitions, divestitures, shareholder liquidity and recapitalizations. The partners have over 140 years of relevant experience in Fulcrum’s target markets, including significant operating experience in senior executive positions at companies that grew rapidly and enjoyed successful exits. Additionally, Fulcrum’s limited partners include over 100 current or former business owners/CEOs of leading companies in a wide variety of industries that provide a rich resource for the firm and portfolio companies. Learn more at http://www.fulcrumep.com.
Media contact:
Kevin Wolf
TGPR
(650) 483-1552
kevin@tgprllc.com