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App store GetJar bottles up $11 million from VCs

The largely unknown but actually second-largest mobile app store, behind Apple's behemoth, closes Series B funding.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read

GetJar, a mobile app store that offers software for most major smartphones, said Thursday it has picked up $11 million in financing.

GetJar

GetJar said it will use the Series B funding generated by Accel Partners to continue to innovate its site and its services for customers and developers, including Pay-Per-Download, App Download Page, and App Catalogue Express.

GetJar is not nearly as well known as the Apple, Android, and BlackBerry mobile app stores. But according to GetJar, it has counted more than 1 billion downloads since its launch in 2005. GetJar describes itself as the world's second largest app store, behind Apple's App Store.

GetJar uses an open market approach, which means it offers apps for virtually all of the major smartphone, including those with Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platforms. Though iPhone users can't get apps directly from GetJar due to Apple's closed platform, the site does display iPhone apps and redirects users to Apple's App Store to download them. GetJar said it currently offers around 65,000 apps to customers in more than 200 countries.

Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., with offices in the U.K. and Lithuania, the company has been growing, especially over the past year during which it has tripled its staff, quadrupled the number of downloads per month, and signed deals with companies such as Sprint.

Consumers can access GetJar's main site through their PCs where they can enter the name of their device or phone number to see specific apps. They can also surf to GetJar's mobile site directly through their phones where GetJar automatically detects the device. From there, the site works like any other app store, offering descriptions, reviews, and download links for the various apps.

"It's hard to believe that six guys that set up the first beta testing community for mobile app developers would eventually transform into the world's 2nd largest app store with over 1 billion downloads to date," Ilja Laurs, founder and CEO of GetJar, said in a statement. "We look forward to our continued partnership with Accel Partners and this new funding will be instrumental in taking GetJar to the next level in our business strategy for aggressive global expansion and product development."