Stories
From Failed Startup to Unicorn: How InMobi Built Its Success
M
Moneycontrol•16-10-2026, 15:59
From Failed Startup to Unicorn: How InMobi Built Its Success
- •Naveen Tewari and his co-founders started mKhoj in 2007 as an SMS-based search engine, which later pivoted to mobile advertising and became InMobi.
- •In 2011, a $200 million investment from SoftBank valued InMobi at $1 billion, establishing it as India's first unicorn.
- •Tewari graduated from IIT-Kanpur and Harvard Business School, where he received the Dean's Award for leadership.
- •InMobi expanded beyond advertising into AI-led consumer technology with the 2019 launch of Glance, delivering personalised content on Android lock screens.
- •The company operates in 150 countries, serves trillions of ads annually, and reported revenues of $300 million in FY26.
Key Questions Answered
Naveen Tewari and his co-founders originally started mKhoj in 2007 as an SMS-based search engine designed to help users discover information through text messages. When the concept failed to gain enough traction, the founders shifted their focus toward mobile advertising, laying the groundwork for InMobi's eventual success.
InMobi achieved unicorn status in September 2011 when SoftBank invested $200 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at approximately $1 billion and making it India's first unicorn.
Launched in 2019, Glance is an AI-driven platform that delivers personalized content such as news, entertainment, and gaming directly through the lock screens of Android smartphones.
