Jentro Technologies raises US$29M

Jentro Technology announced today it has raised US$29 million in a Series A financing. New Enterprise Associates is the lead investor with US$28M, associated with Glynn Capital (US$1 million). Jentro is a white label supplier of location based services and navigation solutions for the mass market, which are operated under and on behalf of third party brands. According to the company “Jentro serves more than 650,000 customers in key European markets”. Jentro has recently opened an office in Chicago and its solution is used by Motorola in its navigation product for Java handsets to be available this summer as a mobile phone accessory. Jentro is privately owned and headquartered in Munich, Germany with further offices in London, Paris and Shenzhen. “Proceeds from the financing will be used to accelerate Jentro's rapid growth, increased sales and marketing efforts, and further collaboration on its technology partnerships with key industry players” announced Jentro. As a result of this financing, Ravi Viswanathan and Paul Hsiao, NEA Partners, will join the Jentro Board of Directors.

Jentro's CEO, Hans-Hendrik Puvogel
"We've already achieved an industry first by combining 3-D dynamic traffic avoidance navigation on cell phones with real-time Internet services. We're way ahead of the competition", said Jentro's CEO, Hans-Hendrik Puvogel. Nicolas von Stackelberg , financial analyst at Sal. Oppenheim added: “Jentro is the innovation leader in off-board navigation on mass market mobile phones. The company has a convincing strategy on location based experiences that really matter to consumers. We expect these to translate into attractive new business models bringing together mobile operators, content owners and advertisers around Jentro's core navigation capability and technology platform.”