• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 13, 2010

Mobile ad network inMobi has closed $8 million in a second-round venture funding from investors existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures. That brings inMobi's total raised to date to more than $15 million.

With the new capital, the company plans to accelerate its push into North America, Europe and Japan as well as beef up its technology operations based in Bangalore, India. "We believe technology is a huge differentiator for us and we will add substantial staff on the engineering side," said Ann Frisbie, vice president and managing director of North America for inMobi.

That could mean adding another 40 or so employees to refine its mobile ad system, especially in the area of ad-targeting. Zeroing in on the right audience via mobile to boost "brand engagement, sales --anything along that gamut is a huge value proposition for both advertisers and agencies,' said Frisbie.

After launching in emerging markets in Africa and India, inMobi in the last year has begun entering more mature markets in Europe and Asia. Last month, it formally announced its expansion into the U.S. and North American market under Frisbie following a soft launch in January. As of June, the company had hired 10 sales and business staff with plans to add another five.

In addition to Bangalore, it now has offices in San Mateo, Calif, London, Mumbai, Tokyo and Singapore. In terms of its ad network, inMobi says it generates 16.7 billion impressions monthly reaching 179 million users in 108 countries. Advertisers include Reebok, Microsoft, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Quaker Oats and Yamaha.

With its global presence and Kleiner Perkins -- arguably Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture capital firm -- behind it, inMobi is a new entrant in the U.S. market that other mobile ad players will have to take seriously. In that vein, the company is positioning itself as an alternative to heavyweights like Google and Apple in the mobile ad space. With its focus on performance-based advertising, it may ultimately compete more directly with Google than Apple's rich media-based iAd platform.

Like other independent mobile ad networks, it could also become a target for big Internet companies like Microsoft and Yahoo as they seek to keep pace with Google and Apple in the emerging mobile ad market.