NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HangIt, a mobile platform company founded on the principle that mobile location changes everything, announced today that it has raised $6.2 million in seed funding and has established headquarters in New York City.
The HangIt platform, to be launched later this year, is an open, turnkey cloud-based service - available free to app developers and publishers - built to enable advanced location-based messaging and marketing in any app. HangIt is also developing a set of marketing products on its platform.
HangIt is a co-invention of Cornell Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Jason Hogg, a former FBI agent who became the founder and CEO of payment company Revolution Money (acquired by American Express in 2009), and first name inventor of American Express’ Serve and Bluebird technology platforms. He serves as HangIt’s chairman and is currently a professor at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Hogg’s co-inventor is Nicholas Johns, the company’s chief architect. Johns is an intellectual property attorney who was General Counsel for Revolution Money and was instrumental in generating its I.P. portfolio.
“The HangIt platform is a blank sheet approach which makes using mobile location fast, easy and free to app developers and publishers so that they can create contextually relevant experiences for smartphone users,” Hogg said. “Our first products on the platform will disrupt the mobile advertising industry by creating new marketing channels that deliver increased relevance and revenue to app developers and publishers by reaching and redirecting customers when they are ready to buy.”
At HangIt, Hogg has curated a team that includes new Chief Executive Officer Steven Gal, a co-founder of ID Analytics (acquired by LifeLock in 2012), and currently a professor of entrepreneurship at Cornell Tech and Cornell’s Johnson School.
“The vision here is big - mobile location is a disruptive communication paradigm - for more than just ads,” explained Gal. “We have a team that collectively has built more than a dozen successful technology companies spanning network services, payments, marketing and analytics. This team, separately and collectively, has built large-scale data and analytical transaction networks and has a track record of executing on partnerships and sales to build new markets.”
HangIt, developed on a strong portfolio of intellectual property following the patent strategy pioneered at Revolution Money, was incubated for several months at Vesta Labs in Atlanta, which has invested $6.2 million in seed funding. Since its incubation, HangIt has deployed, and is currently testing, the prototype in major metropolitan areas.
“At Vesta Labs, we've been thrilled to work with Jason and his team at HangIt, and to be integral in its foray into disruptive applications of mobile location," said Vesta Corp. Chief Executive Officer Doug Fieldhouse. "We are confident in HangIt’s ability to trail blaze in mobile location with its new platform.”
According to tech veteran Andrew Yang, Founder and CEO of Venture For America, who was an early evaluator of the new technology, "HangIt has the potential to be one of the most powerful ways for companies to drive consumer behavior in the real world since Google AdWords™.”
HangIt will extend the boundaries of location-based marketing and messaging when it launches its platform later this year into a rapidly expanding market. According to eMarketer, mobile marketing grew 105 percent in 2013 and mobile ad spending is on pace to reach $31.45 billion this year.
ABOUT HANGIT
HangIt was founded in 2014 on the principle that mobile location on smartphones changes everything. With headquarters in New York City, HangIt plans to launch its open, turnkey service later this year for free to app developers and publishers to enable advanced location based messaging and marketing in any app. Visit hangit.com.
