May 29, 2014

Friends (330) May 29, 2014     10 Views    0 Comments Lua has raised a $7.5 million Series A funding round led by Abundance Partners. Strauss Zelnick (ZelnickMedia, Take-Two Interactive Software) and Aaron Stone (Apollo Global Management) also participated. Founded in 2010 in New York, Lua is a mobile-first coordination solution. PRESS RELEASE Lua, the mobile-first coordination solution for high-performance organizations, today announced a $7.5M Series A funding round led by Abundance Partners with participation from investors including Strauss Zelnick (ZelnickMedia, Take-Two Interactive Software) and Aaron Stone (Apollo Global Management). With this investment, Lua will bring its powerful, enterprise-grade coordination solution to teams across client services, mobile sales and events management, driving speed of action through easy, always-on communication. “Urgency is a currency in the modern workplace. Speed of action is a differentiator for businesses and it’s dependent on nimble, cross-platform solutions. Yet today’s options – texting, conference calls, walkie talkies and email – are out of sync with one another,” said Michael DeFranco, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lua. “To achieve speed of action, businesses need a transformative, mobile-first communications solution to provide instant and secure coordination amongst teams. This goes far beyond asking questions and waiting for answers. At Lua we enable workers to take action wherever they might be by delivering the access to information required to do their jobs with speed and ease.” Since opening up its self-service solution in January 2014, hundreds of organizations have turned to Lua for their coordination needs. Typical Lua clients range from 20-500 users and onboarding is completed in a matter of minutes. Within Lua, message read rates far exceed those of email, with a 94-99% average. Additionally, the average Lua user logs eight sessions per day, spending between forty minutes to one hour in the app daily. “Lua stands at the intersection of three exciting trends: the emergence of on-demand services; the increasing adoption of mobile software by dispersed teams; and the recognition that the mobile workflow has unique needs,” said John Maloney, former President of Tumblr and investor in Lua. “Lua is catalyzing a massive shift in which we will see companies that embrace real-time coordination leapfrog the competition. I have complete confidence in the Lua team, am thrilled to be closely involved, and can’t wait to see the solution used by businesses all around us, everyday.” Lua provides companies with the following features available on iOS, Android and Web: • Corporate Directory: Broken down by role and department, Lua makes the right people easy to find and connect with in a hurry. • Powerful Messaging: Lua lets users engage coworkers, select groups, or whole departments in always-on conversations that sync across all devices. Users can enrich their conversations by attaching files and photos in-conversation; distributing a file is as easy as sending a message. • ReadReports: Accountability is king when immediacy is required. Lua users see who has and hasn’t viewed messages and files, and can request loud and clear confirmation that a message or file was received. • Instant Conference Calling: No more sending out dial-ins, scrolling through calendars and paying for conference lines, Lua enables users to connect a group or team on the phone with two taps. • File Center: Any file or photo shared within Lua lives in an repository synced across web and mobile for immediate, ongoing access. Made a mistake or changed your mind? Access to every attachment can be edited in 2 touches. “It was amazing to watch the precision at which our team was able to execute thanks to Lua. The mobile-first solution transformed accountability, workflow and speed of action. Lua was essential to the success of our event as it kept every single person operating in a seamless fashion, which had a great impact on morale as well. While the public sees just one night, months of work go into The Superbowl, and Lua got us across our ‘finish line’ with unparalleled efficiency,” said Will Tisch, Project Coordinator, NY/NJ SuperBowl. Lua is available to businesses at two levels of pricing. A Basic subscription is $6 per user per month and features unlimited messaging, calling and file sharing. Professional subscriptions are $10 per user per month and includes dedicated customer support, as well as business intelligence insights. With today’s investment, Lua Technologies has raised $10M in total funding including prior institutional investment from IA Ventures. Lua is also a Techstars 2012 company. About Lua Founded in 2010 in New York City, Lua is the mobile-first coordination solution for high-performance organizations. Lua offers an intuitive and cross-platform solution that includes a centralized corporate directory, a powerful messaging and calling system, unlimited file attachment storage, and accountability across a team through essential ReadReport tracking and analysis. Back by investors including Abundance Partners, IA Ventures, Strauss Zelnick, Aaron Stone and John Maloney, Lua delivers a powerful, enterprise-grade coordination solution to teams across client services, mobile sales and events management, driving speed of action through easy, always-on communication. Lua is also DIACAP certified, a mark of its security and trust within the defense industry. Related Posts