• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 3, 2012

Mobile app marketing firm Fiksu has secured $10 million in a second round financing led by Qualcomm Ventures, the venture arm of Qualcomm Inc., and prior investor Charles River Ventures. The funding brings Fiksu’s total raised to date to $17.8 million.
 
Boston-based Fisku said it will used the new financing to pursue expansion in Europe and Asia, further development of its technology and partnerships with agencies and brands. Developers use the company’s marketing platform—Fiksu for Mobile Apps—to optimize promotional campaigns for apps across real-time exchanges, ad networks, the mobile Web, social networks and other channels.
 
Through its Web-based system, Fiksu promises to deliver loyal users—dedicated app users who are the mostly likely to respond to ads and download apps. The company says it tracks more than 1 billion user actions per day, including app launches, registrations and in-app purchases, as well as real-time ad requests, to help optimize campaigns.
 
Fiksu late last year also introduced a separate service called FreeMyApps that allows iOS device users earn credits toward paid apps by downloading and running titles from a list of sponsored apps.
 
With its plans for international expansion, Fiksu expects to double its staff of 100 in the coming year. It recently more than doubled its office space in Boston, added an office in Northampton, MA, and is expanding its presence in the U.K. and Singapore.
 
Fiksu has also raised its visibility by publishing monthly indexes tracking the rate of free iPhone app downloads in the U.S., as well as the cost to developers for acquiring a loyal customer—someone who opens an app at least three times a month. The company says its platform typically delivers loyal users for less than a $1 each.