AirG

LOCATIONVancouver, Canada

URL www.airg.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2000

CEO Frederick Ghahramani, Vincent Yen

EMPLOYEES 100

FUNDING Self-funded

KEY INVESTORS Founders

Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are just starting to move onto cell phones looking to recreate their online successes. But a few companies like AirG are already there. AirG says it has 7 million registered users across 85 carriers for its mobile social networking service. The company counts major U.S. carriers Verizon Wireless, Cingular, and Sprint-Nextel as customers. Co-founder Frederick Ghahramani says his company knows the mobile market far better than these new online competitors, and his service can withstand the coming onslaught. But mobile competitors like Intercasting are betting on the same plan.

Amp’d Mobile

LOCATIONLos Angeles, CA

URL www.ampd.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2005

CEO Peter Adderton

EMPLOYEES 120

FUNDING $260 million

KEY INVESTORS MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, Redpoint Ventures, Columbia Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Qualcomm, IntelCapital, Tudor Investments, Rho Ventures, Quilvest Ventures, Polygon Investment Partners, Heights Capital Management

Amp’d Mobile likes to think of itself as the edgy MTV in a mobile world of staid, boring networks. It’s an apt—if self-serving—metaphor, given that the actual MTV is a major investor in the wireless startup. CEO Peter Adderton even said that securing MTV’s money and blessing was his chief goal. His next goal should be to focus on building his subscriber base of tech-savvy youth. The company only launched service at the start of the year, but is vague about how many subscribers it has. That could be a bad sign.

Aperto Networks

LOCATIONMilpitas, CA

URL www.apertonet.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 1999

CEO Reza Ahy

EMPLOYEES 140

FUNDING $120 million, 5 rounds

KEY INVESTORS JK&B Capital, Canaan Partners, Alliance Ventures, GunnAllen Venture Partners, Innovacom, JAFCO, Labrador Ventures, Tyco Ventures

Aperto Networks is an early WiMAX believer. Its slogan, “Wireless to the Max,” is no small hint that the company is betting its future on the nascent wide-area wireless technology. The company is already selling its base stations and access points to carriers in developing countries like the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Wireless technology can leapfrog cellular infrastructure in such markets. But the more highly anticipated mobile version of WiMAX doesn’t have a foothold in any market yet, and Aperto could lose traction if WiMAX doesn’t succeed with laptops and handsets.

Groove Mobile

LOCATIONAndover, MA

URL www.groovemobile.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2001

CEO Eric Giler

EMPLOYEES 50

FUNDING $20 million, 2 rounds

KEY INVESTORS Egan-Managed Capital, Charles River Ventures, Kodiak Venture Partners, Star Ventures Management

Ring tones comprise a multibillion-dollar market that almost no one predicted would come into being. Yet full-track downloads, the market that mobile pundits deemed inevitable, has so far failed to prove itself. Uncertainty has not stopped companies like Groove Mobile from making a play for the full-track download market. It could be a smart move. Juniper Research in the United Kingdom predicts that handheld users will download 1 billion full-track songs in 2008. With a new CEO, an $8-million second round of funding, and Sprint as a U.S. customer, the company should be poised to ride the mobile music wave—if it ever comes.

mPortal

LOCATION Vienna, VA

URL www.mportal.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2000

CEO DP Venkatesh

EMPLOYEES 75+

FUNDING $14 million, 3 rounds

KEY INVESTORS Friedli Corporate Finance

So you slapped your brand on a mobile phone and now you want to start hawking your content to subscribers? mPortal is hoping you’ll call them first. The company makes it easier for carriers to pipe data services like games, video, and music over their networks. Six-year-old mPortal has already signed AOL and TV Guide as customers. And the future bodes for well for the smallest screen. By the end of the decade, nearly half of the world’s population will be a mobile subscriber. Still, the company faces stiff competition from the likes of Qualcomm and startups Motricity and SurfKitchen.

Newport Media

LOCATION Lake Forest, CA

URL www.newportmediainc.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2005

CEO Mohy Abdelgany

EMPLOYEES 45

FUNDING $36 million, 2 rounds

KEY INVESTORS Benchmark Capital, Oak Investment Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Venrock Associates, Global Catalyst Partners

Mobile TV is a hot market, and Newport Media emerged just in time to make money from this trend. The young chip company’s tuners and demodulators allow handsets to receive and process TV signals. Newport Media is developing chips that will support several mobile TV standards, such as DVB-H, DMB, and MediaFLO. However, Newport Media has a growing list of rivals. Beating giants such as Texas Instruments and Philips Semiconductor—and a host of startups—will not be easy.

Ruckus Wireless

LOCATIONMountain View, CA

URL www.ruckuswireless.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2004

CEO Selina Lo

EMPLOYEES 50

FUNDING $14 million, 2 rounds

KEY INVESTORS Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, WK Technology Fund, Investor AB

As wireless devices continue to proliferate in the home and office, the problem of interference is becoming more acute. That’s where Ruckus Wireless comes in. The company, formerly known as Video54, announced the industry’s first multimedia wireless routing system and multimedia adapter in September 2005. It has since extended its franchise in the home. In March 2006, Ruckus upped the ante by announcing that Pioneer Telephone had signed to use its smart Wi-Fi technology that allows IPTV service providers to stream their signals through their customers’ homes using Wi-Fi. But Ruckus needs to move quickly in a very competitive market.

ScanBuy

LOCATIONNew York, NY

URL www.scanbuy.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2000

CEO Jonathan Bulkeley

EMPLOYEES 20

FUNDING $5.5 million, 1 round

KEY INVESTORSHudson Ventures

Predictions for non-talking uses of cell phones know no bounds. ScanBuy hopes handsets can be combined with barcodes to give willing customers information while letting product makers promote their wares. The idea is that customers will use camera phones to snap photos of barcodes of items they like, then receive promotional information, discounts, even online price comparisons. Having its product on certain handsets by Nokia, the world’s largest cell phone maker, will certainly help to increase adoption. With big guns like Hitachi and Xerox offering their own scanner technologies, ScanBuy will have to hustle to get other handset makers and carriers aboard.

TeleCIS Wireless

LOCATIONSanta Clara, CA

URL www.telecis.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2000

CEO Sam Endy

EMPLOYEES 40

FUNDING $18.7 million, 2 rounds

KEY INVESTORS Samsung Ventures, KTIC, Turbotek, ATA Ventures

Chip developer TeleCIS Wireless is targeting an emerging market: WiMAX. It’s a smart move for a company that began its life as a Wi-Fi chip designer. WiMAX is the long-range version of Wi-Fi and provides better broadband coverage over a large area. TeleCIS has developed a low-power WiMAX chip that supports MIMO (multiple input multiple output) and works in consumer devices. The startup plans to create a second chip that combines WiMAX/WiBro with Wi-Fi. To succeed in the market will not be easy for TeleCIS, which faces numerous competitors, from giants like Intel to startups like Sequans Communications.

Visage Mobile

LOCATIONSan Francisco, CA

URL www.visagemobile.com

SECTOR Wireless

FOUNDED 2001

CEO Matt Johnson

EMPLOYEES 250

FUNDING $80 million, 4 rounds

INVESTORS Mobius Venture Capital, Worldview Technology Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Vesbridge Partners, Selby Venture Partners, Emergence Capital Partners, Palisades Ventures, Nomura

Visage Mobile calls itself a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE), an adaptation of the term mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), the popular name for the category of companies that resell wireless services under their own brand name. Visage does not own any wireless spectrum but acts as the back-office for MVNOs. Since the wireless business falls outside the expertise of most MVNOs, Visage becomes its clients’ interface to the technology. The company does all the customer management, retail systems interconnections, billing services, connection to host carriers, and call center customer service on behalf of the MVNO.

The Red Herring 100:Software,Wireless,Security,Media,Internet,Energy,Computing,Communications,Bioscience,Other Plus: Magenn,Luminetx,Inrix,3VR Security