Mobli partners with América Móvil, gets $60M investment

Deal will allow Mobli to have access to millions of América Móvil users in Latin America

As yet another company offering a video and picture sharing service, Mobli has always tried to set itself apart by bringing celebrities on board to endorse it.

That included Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Serena Williams as investors and advisors. And there were other big names like Jaime King, Paris Hilton, David Arquette and Lance Armstrong, who all came along to say how great the company was.

Ok, so maybe not all of those "celebrities" turned out to be the best choices (I'm looking at you in particular, Lance!) but you get the idea. It was a way for the company to separate itself in a crowded space.

Now Mobli is getting the endorsement, and a big investment, from another big name: the one-time richest man in the world, and CEO of América Móvil, Carlos Slim.

América Móvil has invested $60 million into Mobli, it was announced on Wednesday, and the two companies also entered into a business collaboration arrangement that will introduce Mobli’s products to América Móvil’s mobile users, specifically those in Latin America.

"Mobli has developed a remarkable technology and this strategic alliance will allow América Móvil to bring value added experiences for its users throughout the Americas," Slim said in a statement.

This deal will be a big boon for Mobli, as tries to compete with services like Instagram and Vine. By partnering with América Móvil it will allow the company "to reach a massive community of millions of users in Latin America," said Moshe Hogeg, Founder and CEO of Mobli.

As for the money it has received, Mobli said that it will be using it to expand its visual search engine, which will allow its users to "see the world through other people’s eyes, and to scroll back in time through previous images."

This latest round brings the company's funding to $86 million. Mobli raised a $4 million Series A from DiCaprio and other "high profile investors" in 2011, followed by a $22 million Series B from Kenges Rakishev in September 2012.  

Founded in 2011, the Israel-based Mobli calls itself "a real-time visual media platform made up of subject-based channels such as people, places and topics."

Mobli has users set up their own channels where they can post pictures and video of what they are seeing and what they love. Content can also be searched and viewed by categories such as food, sports, music, fashion, and more.

This is the second big investment made by América Móvil this year; it poured $40 million into music matching service Shazam in July. 

(Image source: https://www.mobli.com)