Wandera comes out of stealth with $7 million Series A

Company helps employers control data usage costs from employee smartphones

As the number of smartphone devices being used in the workplace goes up, so does the cost of data fees for the employers supplying those phones. In fact, the costs have become a big burden that getting these costs down has become crucial to businesses being able to stay solvent.

That is where a new startup called Wandera comes in. The company, which emerged from stealth mode Wednesday, is debuting its new Mobile Data Optimization (MDO) service, which is designed to help businesses manage the amount of mobile data usage in their organizations.

In addition, Wandera also announced that it has raised a $7 million Series A round of financing from Bessemer Venture Partners. The company previously raised $1 million in seed funding from a group of superangels last year, bringing its total funding to $8 million.

The company plans to use the money in three key areas, Eldar Tuvey, CEO and founder at Wandera, told me in an interview: To build out the product; to expand its international presence to parts of Asia, Europe and the United States; and to build up the team, specifically in the engineering and sales divisions.

As for Bessemer, Tuvey said that he was proud to have them be an investor given their "fantastic track record," having backed Skype, Broadsoft, Intucell, Box and LinkedIn.

How does Wandera work?

The amount of money spent on data has exploded in the last few years, with businesses spending $29 billion on roaming data charges alone in 2012. Mobile data usage went up 133% year over year. 

"As employers moved from BlackBerry to iPhone and Android, employees started using more data. And it just went through the roof," Tuvey said. 

With Wandera, he said, an employers can save an average of $100 a month on individual bills. And that can mean big savings, especially since Wandera only charges companies $4 per employee per month.

There are three main components that Wandera offers its customers to help bring down the amount of data, and help save them money:

• Savings - The company uses data compression and real-time processing to reduce a company’s mobile data usage and spend by up to 60%.
• Visibility - It gives employers "unique insights into data," so that they can see which apps and websites the employees are accessing. 
• Control and policy - Employers can use the insights to gain greater control on what kind, and how much data, they will give their employees. For example, they may block certain content that they find inappropriate or put a cap on the amount of data an employee can use when they are abroad.

A big part of the business, he said, is "bill shock prevention," or the ability to control the cost so that employers don't wind up with a gigantic bill that tey weren't expecting at the end of the month.

Wandera, Tuvey said, "is a groundbreaking business," and one that is "creating a category and a space."

There are other services out there that help manage and control data, including those that will remotely wipe a device if it is lost, and those that help manage applications, but Wandera gives control over data. And while other companies do data compression at the carrier or consumer level, Wandera is the first to do it at the corporate level, Tuvey told me. 

"We like to lead from the front," he said, mentioning that he and his brother, Roy, had some experience doing that when they launched cloud web security service ScanSafe, which Tuvey called "a pioneer in delivery web security." They sold the company to Cisco for $200 million in 2010. 

Despite being in stealth mode for four to five months, the company already has tens of thousands of customers, meaning the total number of employees that are now using the service. Tuvey was not able to tell me the exact number of companies that are currently using the service.

"Our goal is to help companies take control of this integral part of their business," Turvey said.

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