This Week in Mobile Milestones: Willow Tree and Mofuse

One of the biggest areas of mobile growth will be to help businesses establish, optimize and host a mobile presence. That includes both websites and apps, and is pronounced by the low penetration of optimized mobile sites, compared to ramping consumer usage.

We held a hearty panel discussion at MLM SF on this topic and will continue to watch it closely (see Google’s GoMo effort). Two of the companies leading this space (and on that MLM panel) are Willow Tree Apps and Mofuse, and both had notable announcements this week.

Mofuse has announced a $525K early stage funding round from existing investors including Angel Street Capital, Beacon Angels, Cherrystone Angel Group and Slater Technology Fund. It’s a good vote of confidence in the sector’s growth and in Mofuse’s technology.

Willow Tree meanwhile has informed me that it was named to Inc. magazine’s latest list of 500 fastest growing private companies in America. The company has been ramping quickly with 3 year growth of over 800% and headcount growth of 2 to 35 during the same period.

The company has solid design chops and apps built for the likes of GE, J&J, and Valpak (not to mention BIA/Kelsey). CEO Tobias Dengel, in an integrity move, pointed out that it’s more a statement about the sector than about his company, as competitor Bottle Rocket also made the list.

“[It’s] two companies in an industry that didn’t exist four years ago,” he told me in an email. “Shows how fast this ecosystem is growing.”

Mike Boland

Mike Boland is an analyst with the Kelsey Group.

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