Ten years of NGP

2015 was the year NGP turned ten. What started in 2005 as a small VC with a $25M fund has grown to a leading global VC with $700M under management and investment activity in the US, Europe, China and India. In 2015, NGP did 11 new growth-stage investments, two follow-on investments and saw two companies exit the portfolio. We also hosted the global Car Connections event in Palo Alto, brought on a new partner to the team and discussed our billion-dollar growth strategy at Slush with Nokia Chairman, Risto Siilasmaa.

Exits, New Investments and Portfolio Highlights 2015

Exits

GanJi – Acquired by 58.com in April 2015 for over $3.6 B, making it one of the largest Internet deals 2015.
MadHouse – Brand management company BlueFocus Communication Group acquired Madhouse Inc.

New deals 2015 (Jan-Dec)

Moovit $50M (Israel) – Moovit is an intelligent local transit app combining information from public transport operators and authorities with live information from the user community.

Whistle $15M (US) – Whistle is the world-leader in pet technology, creating smart pet products, providing devices and a mobile platform that seeks to help pets live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Citymaps $6M (US) – Citymaps is building the world’s largest catalog of map collections allowing users to discover, follow, create and share custom maps of their favorite places anywhere in the world.

Indix $15M (US/India) – Indix is a cloud-based Product Intelligence company that provides analytics and insights for brands, retailers and commerce enablers.

Zoomcar $11M (India)  – Zoomcar is a self-drive car rental company operating in India.

Peloton (US) – Peloton Technology develops vehicle systems that deliver advanced safety, fuel savings and analytics to trucking fleets.

Yoogaia $3M (Finland) – Yoogaia is the world’s first live, interactive online yoga studio with a mission to provide easy wellbeing utilizing the latest technology.

GetYourGuide $50M (Germany) – GetYourGuide, a desktop and mobile platform for finding and booking holiday activities, currently covering some 27,800+ activities in more than 2,500 destinations around the world.

Sensoro $10M (China) – Sensoro is one of the top three Bluetooth beacon operators in the world, owning a beacon network that consists of more than 100,000 beacon units deployed in more than 17,000 retail stores.

WorkFusion $14M (US) – WorkFusion is the leading smart process automation solution for the enterprise to automate high-volume, labor-intensive knowledge processing work.

RapidMiner $16M (US) – RapidMinder is a predictive analytics platform that empowers enterprises to easily mashup data, create predictive models and operationalize predictive analytics within any business process.

Portfolio highlights (Jan-Dec)

Digital Lumens Continues Market-Leading Growth
Digital Lumens brings the Internet of Things (IoT) to customers around the world. In 2015, they launched a mobile app, giving users a simple and convenient way to control and manage lighting settings from their mobile device. Digital Lumens also announced its enterprise-scale Intelligent LED Lighting System spanning over 200 million square feet (20 million square meters) of commercial and industrial space.

Zubie announces partnering with Verizon, and is Awarded Best  Insurance Telematics Product
Connected car company Zubie announced partnership with Verizon, launched its ZinC API platform and app store, and wins “2015 Best Insurance Telematics” award by TU Automotive.  Zubie is a leading provider of connected car platforms, analytics, and services focused on making driving safer, easier and less expensive for enterprises, small businesses, and consumers.

RetailNext secures $125M in growth funding
RetailNext, Inc., the worldwide market leader for in-store retail analytics, announced the company has secured an additional $125 million in growth funding to accelerate growth in new markets, further strengthen the company’s presence in North America, Europe and Asia, and pursue relevant strategic acquisitions. NGP participated in the round.

Quikr raised USD 150M to fuel its growth and turned unicorn with $1.5bn valuation
Quikr, India’s No. 1 cross category classifieds business and an early investment by NGP, got valuated to over $1.5Bn in 2015 as they raised $150M led by Tiger Global Management and Kinnevik.

Babbel raises new round, NGP participates
Babbel, the global market leader for learning languages online, completed a Series C round of $22M and secured SEP as new investor.

Deloitte, Gigwalk partner on business operations data
Mobile-enabled workforce company, Gigwalk, partnered with consulting giant Deloitte to form an alliance designed to enable real-time data collection and support actionable analytics providing client companies with actionable data regarding activities in their value-chain.

TechProcess gets attention in India for successful strategy pivot towards mobile
TechProcess was set up in 2000 and along the way transformed itself from a heavy, process-oriented model to a fin-tech one with NGP’s help. Read the story of a product that has multi-sector impact and has involved multi-faceted transformation of the company behind it.

Verve Mobile Acquires Beacon Startup Fosbury Signals
Verve Mobile, the firm focused on location-based advertising, acquired beacon-centric campaign management technology Fosbury for an undisclosed sum. Verve Mobile’s move portends an inevitable consolidation within the sprawling beacon space.

MAG Interactive acquires U.K. mobile game studio Delinquent
The deal shows that companies that have struck it rich in mobile games are now spreading out, acquiring the newest generation of mobile game development studios in order to keep growing. Mobile games are expected to be a $30 billion industry this year, according to market researcher Newzoo.

Indian retargeting company Vizury Enters the US Market
Big Data Marketing company Vizury, enters the US with its app re-engagement and retargeting product. Vizury has worked with several of the largest global brands to aid them in their retargeting efforts in the Asia Pacific region. Brands such as Sony, Lenovo, Virgin Australia, Etihad Airways, Expedia, eBay, Flipkart and Walmart have engaged Vizury’s services in this space.

Yoogaia chosen among the best Apple apps 2015 and wins ‘Largest Global Potential’ Award in the Best Mobile Service 2015 competition at Slush2015
Finnish Digital Health company Yoogaia gets rewarded by Apple and at Slush 2015 for their interactive online Yoga studio.  Yoogaia’s popularity is growing quickly around the world and Yoogaia’s App has been chosen as one of the best new apps on the App Store in over 100 countries around the world.

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