Mobile back-end service provider Kii expands into Asia with $7.3M in funding

Updated 3:50pm Pacific: $7.3 million is the total raised to date, not the amount of the current round.

Kii, a provider of tools for mobile developers, has raised an additional round of investment, bringing its total raise to $7.3 million to date. The latest round is meant to fuel an expansion into Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Kii’s offering is a mobile backend-as-a-service (mBaaS, in the horrible lingo of the marketing people who come up with this stuff) that gives developers tools to add things like user and data management, push notifications, and the like. It’s a growing category, with stiff competition from other mBaaS providers such as Parse (acquired by Facebook), Kinvey, and Urban Airship. But Kii has already seen some success, with a customer list that includes LinkedIn, NTT Docomo, Softbank, and HTC. And southeast Asia is a choice market for expansion, with a large population of smartphone users and a growing demand for apps.

Kii is based in Tokyo, but also has offices in San Mateo, California, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. It employs over 100 people. The funding came from Fenox Venture Capital.