InMobi secures $100 million for AI acquisitions ahead of IPO

Adtech startup InMobi has raised $100 million in debt financing as the profitable Indian firm looks to “significantly deepen” its artificial intelligence initiatives and fund potential AI acquisitions ahead of a planned IPO next year. 

Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture between MUFG and Liquidity Group, has financed the funding, InMobi said Wednesday. The investment is the latest in a growing Indian portfolio of Mars, which has also backed quick commerce startup Zepto and marketplace Infra.Market in recent months. 

SoftBank-backed InMobi, which counts Mastercard, Samsung, Vodafone, and Coca-Cola among its customers, has been actively exploring AI advancements over the past two years to enhance ad interactivity. The company, which works with tens of thousands of app developers across over 50 nations, recently developed techniques for seamlessly integrating native advertisements into content, TechCrunch previously reported.

“AI is the bedrock of both InMobi’s consumer and enterprise businesses, and we are using it to power the revolutionary lock screen experiences and InMobi Advertising’s platforms. We are reimagining how ads can be made truly native by driving superior engagement and outcomes for consumers, advertisers and publishers,” said Naveen Tewari, CEO of InMobi, in a statement. 

InMobi also owns Glance, a unicorn startup that operates an Android lockscreen platform. The Android platform is separately in talks to raise more than $200 million, TechCrunch previously reported. 

InMobi is eying a valuation of approximately $10 billion in an initial public offering planned for next year in India. The firm plans to shift its domicile from Singapore to India in the coming months. The company expects to generate annual revenue exceeding $700 million by the end of March, TechCrunch earlier reported.

The debt financing from MARS Growth Capital represents one of the largest transactions to date for the investment firm. “Liquidity, through its JV with MUFG, Mars Growth, is committed to growing the Asian tech ecosystem,” said Ron Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Liquidity Group and CEO of Mars Growth, in a statement.