Modu, an Israeli startup founded in 2007, is going to be adding $100 million to the $20 million in venture capital they’ve already raised, says Israeli newspaper The Globes. The company will create tiny modular phones that can be slipped into different device “jackets”— like an MP3 player, GPS, bigger cell phone, car stereo, or digital camera (see here for a demo video).
The round hasn’t closed yet, but clearly the details are leaking. The Globes isn’t naming the new investors but says that the company is being valued at $150 million pre-money, meaning they’re giving away a whopping 40% of the equity in this round. They must really need the money to get the product to market to take that kind of dilution.
Founder Dov Moran’s previous company, M-Systems, pioneered the concept of the USB flash drive and sold to SanDisk for $1.6 billion in 2006. See an interview with Moran here.
Congrats to another Israeli innovation!
You can read a lot more about modu at the official modu blog: http://blog.modumobile.com
I do not understand this. His previous company sold for 1.6 billion and he needs investors? What happened to his earning?
He continues to amaze me with the perception that he succeeds to build (and the sums), but until now they have done the easy part, which is the standalone cellular modem with a limited set of applications.
Now starts the hard part, which is the integration with other vendors, which require business and technical agreements, as well as lots of shoulder-to-shoulder engineering.
Will they succeed to attract many consumer electronics manufacturers to this adventure ? that’s the big question, still unanswered.
I will be less skeptic if they contract with a major camera manufacturer like Canon, Nikon or others.
They have a very cool concept. I recall they recently made an exclusive with one the major Russian mobile telecom operators for the Russian market.
@3, well it’s always better to spend other people’s money, plus it’s a way of generating other kinds of support and involvement.
Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t see the point of it. Okay, the modu is a phone, but it seems to depend on a ’sleeve’ concept for extendability, to turn it into a MP3 player for example. The ability to interact with all kinds of devices is great but why not go down the bluetooth/wireless route rather than trying to get manufacturers to create docking slots.
is Israel becoming technology center of the world? everyday i see more and more investment news in Israel based technology companies.
those jewish are smart:)
Cool concept.
-Michael B owner of http://mikesmoneyclub.blogspot.com
no me gusta
This is such a stupid idea, Wildseed all over.
I wish they offered satellite phones as well.
My game camera is taking pictures of deer passing by in the bush. I have to come back to check what comes out and when. Wouldn’t it be nice to get the photos sent to me on the spot using a satellite phone?
That would be easy venison then!
Wasted money, the iPod will keep evolving and adding more features as hardware evolves, things will be wireless, including power therefore no need for stupid jackets.
Damn waste of $100MM. Maybe we should have a couple of jewish guys join our company see if we can raise a few millions.
Stupid idea, another useless gadget, wasted marketing money, nobody on my mailing lists would remember the name even after all the money they spent with their mistery marketing campaign.
If he’d put all the money he made from SanDisk, he wouldn’t have wasted the 20MM of his investors like that.
If he’s got billions why does he need to raise money? Better to spend other people’s money?
They are obviously going to have to go the licensing or OEM relations route, as in this day and age, there is no competing with the Giants. Even Apple barely squeaked out the iPhone, and only because they have expertise in contract manufacturing on a large scale and were able to secure a captive deal with ATT.
Remember that stupid phone box company? ovoo…what ever. How many more are struggling? Creative, Archos, they are all humping to be number 7,8,9.
The chances of this small, and probably innovative company competing as a Direct OEM are nil to slim.
But those Israelis, don’t count ‘em out. To be a direct mfg. of mobile technology takes a mezzanine of near 500M down, and 500M to sustain product and marketing.
100 mil? No way. yet……
Private Banks, the media, Micheal Arington, most opinion makers….all Jews dominated.
They have the brains, but no heart.
Hmm, that’ll be quite interesting to see what comes out of it! Obviously other countries are the ones with the money at this time to truly invest in ventures like these.
Michael, can you review more european start ups? a lot of us are very interested in the EMEA market as well.
regards.
Similar concept has been kicked around at Casio and other Japanese consumer product manufacturers for years, without market research confirmation of success - yet. When it comes to tiny mobile devices, I’m sure the company has taken a chapter or two from Japan.
not enough features, price?
@15
fuck you, jews are awesome
1. This is a very gutsy move and most of the negative criticism I have been reading here is unsubstantiated. Of course there is more work to be done and the path to success is long… but give the guys some credits. BTW the caliber of VC money that they have been getting means that some very knowledgable and serious people have been examining this idea.
2. For all you anti-semetic creeps go find something better to do than involve racism and prejudice into this company.
nice PR
more modu news to come out today! visit http://blog.modumobile.com
Yes, this Modu play will be a challenging ride, in a tough market. I fear that cost-wise, the “skins” are going to be about as expensive as a new phone alltogether.
@sd (#17) : I agree with you that European startups deserve more coverage.
I’ve started some at “Europe 2.0″ ( http://www.europe20.com )