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If there were any doubt that Greater Boston is holding its own as an international hub for the mobile industry, you only need to look at the growth of the local chapter of Mobile Monday, an international organization sponsoring regional networking groups focused on the mobile industry.
The first meeting of the local Mobile Monday (MoMo) chapter was held in April 2006 and played host to approximately 20 people in a classroom at MIT. Now, looking ahead to the group’s next event, to be held next week at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel, it is expected to draw more than 500 attendees and will include a keynote address by Gov. Deval Patrick.
Kate Imbach, the marketing director for Boston-based Skyhook Wireless Inc. and one of the organizers of the local chapter of MoMo, said the rise of the organization mirrors the growth in the local mobile industry, which includes application developers, infrastructure makers, technology platform developers and all kinds of companies in between. “I think we have a perfect storm here of universities, venture capital and entrepreneurs to become one of the largest mobile hubs in the world,” Imbach said.
MoMo as an organization was started in Helsinki, Finland in 2000, but MoMo Boston has become the largest chapter in the world — followed closely by Los Angeles, London and Amsterdam, according to Imbach. The local volunteer organization is led by Imbach from Skyhook and Matt Gross, a general manager at Boston-based uLocate Communications Inc.
The growth of the group has mirrored the growth of the mobile community in the Boston area, which in 2002 had 10 mobile companies receive venture funding to the tune of approximately $50 million, but last year saw 45 companies haul in more than $500 million in investment, according to MoMo’s figures.
Imbach also pointed out the industry, and MoMo, has also supported growth in the services companies that work with mobile technology development. Law firms such as WilmerHale and Goodwin Procter LLP, venture firm Bain Capital and other groups such as Silicon Valley Bank and angel investor network CommonAngels have sponsored events.
Read the followup story: "Boston mobile investments hit $215M quarterly high"
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