When Lua Technologies took the stage at TechStars Demo Day in New York last month, it already had a big vote of confidence.
Just minutes before, it had signed its first term sheet. Ultimately, it received $1 million worth of commitments from TechStars mentors.
Today it's announcing the completion of a $2.5 million seed round of financing led by Roger Ehrenberg's IA Ventures. The Dark Knight Rises producer Charles Roven, Strauss Zelnick, former Tumblr president John Maloney, and Aaron Stone participated.
Lua Technologies is a mobile collaboration software company. It believes that over the next few years, more people will be using their mobile devices than computers to get work done. Cofounder Michael Keoni DeFranco says there are already about 1.3 billion people who are a part of the mobile workforce.
Since Demo Day, Lua has been approached by companies across all sorts of industries, from entertainment to hospitality.
Cisco, GE, and even a small island were interested in using Lua Technologies to help wrangle their employees and communities under its mobile network. Currently 10 to 20 companies are using Lua in beta.
Lua charges a $20 subscription fee for the group organizer. All group members who use Lua under the organizer can do so for free.
Organizers can set up calendar events, group chats, and one-to-one messages over Lua. They can also upload documents and share them easily. DeFranco says the goal is to help businesses do everything they need with just six screens and 2 clicks via Lua's interface.
Lua will use the $2.5 million to grow its team of 13 to more than 20 people. It will also open up a west coast office, most likely in LA, to be in the heart of the entertainment industry. It recently moved into a new office on 20th and Broadway in Manhattan.
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