Jana, the largest provider of free, unrestricted Internet access in emerging markets, announced a $57 million Series C round led by new investor Verizon Ventures and participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Publicis Groupe. The funding will accelerate Jana\u2019s expansion into emerging markets and help the company address the need for free Internet data around the world.<\/p>\n
The CEO of AOL and Maurice L\u00e9vy, members of Jana’s advisory board<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jana also announced that Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, has agreed to serve on the company’s advisory board. Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis, is also an advisor. Both advisors will surely bolster Jana’s ability to serve its advertising partners all over the planet.<\/p>\n \u201cIn four years, brands will spend an estimated $300Bn on advertising, which provides a major opportunity for Jana to work with brands to offset data costs for accessing the Internet,\u201d said Vijay Doradla, Director at Verizon Ventures. \u201cWe are excited to support Jana in giving the world greater access to free data.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOver 30 million users have benefited from Jana\u2019s free, unrestricted internet access, but our goal is to reach the next billion,\u201d said Nathan Eagle, CEO of Jana. \u201cWith Verizon\u2019s support and Tim Armstrong as an advisor, we look forward to continuing record-breaking growth in emerging markets and quick expansion into China.\u201d<\/p>\n How Jana works<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jana provides free, unrestricted Internet access in emerging markets to more than 30 million people, with the goal of reaching the next billion. Jana is shifting the cost of data to brands via sponsored content, letting users download, try and engage with apps and in return gain free data to be used anywhere on the Internet.<\/p>\n Jana\u2019s mCent Android app unlocks free data in exchange for brand engagement, allowing users to earn data that can be used anywhere on the Internet – to use another app like WeChat, to do a Google search or to watch a YouTube video, for example.<\/p>\n 2nd largest mobile ad platform in India and eyeing to enter China<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Currently second largest mobile advertising platform in India next to Google, Jana has twice the reach of users than Free Basics (formerly Internet.org) and surpassed Facebook\u2019s growth revenue in nine months after launching mCent in India.<\/p>\n The company drives ROI and engagement for more than 3,000 brands, including Amazon, Saavn, Twitter, and WeChat. Jana and has partnered with 311 mobile carriers, that give it the capability to connect with 4.56Bn smartphones worldwide.<\/p>\n Following Jana\u2019s success in India and expansion into additional key markets, such as Indonesia and Brazil, the company has ambitious plans to launch in China, bringing its mCent app to the most populous country in the world.<\/p>\n Nairobi born million business concept, that drives development in emerging markets<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jana was inspired by Nathan Eagle\u2019s time as a Fulbright professor at the University of Nairobi. He and his students developed a system for rural nurses to text centralized blood banks when supplies were low, but the system\u2019s success was hindered by the cost of data. The expense prevented nurses from sending the SMS. When the system was upgraded to automatically reimburse them for data used, the nurses enthusiastically returned to the system. Jana was born out of this insight that smartphones can be used not only for global communication, but also data sponsorship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jana, the largest provider of free, unrestricted Internet access in emerging markets, announced a $57 million Series C round led by new investor Verizon Ventures and participation from existing investors Spark Capital and Publicis Groupe. The funding will accelerate Jana\u2019s expansion into emerging markets and help the company address the need for free Internet data …<\/p>\n