As email consumption increasingly turns to mobile devices, a host of email apps have emerged to make the mobile email process more effortless and efficient. And several have recently gained the attention – and checks – of venture capital investors.
Increased investor interest in mobile email applications may be at least partly attributable to Dropbox‘s $100M acquisition of email app Mailbox, which took just $5M from investors including Charles River Ventures. Three of the venture-backed email apps in the market are Acompli, Boxer, Gusto, all of which raised early-stage funding in the last 12 months. Acompli raised a $7.3M Series A in February from Redpoint Ventures and top micro VCs Felicis Ventures and Harrison Metal, while Boxer took a $3M Series A from Sutter Hill Ventures last October. Gusto is the most recent to raise funding, seeded by Elevate Ventures in April.
To get a sense of how the venture-backed email apps are performing, we took a look at App Store rankings data over the past several months for the three apps as well as already acquired Mailbox. And based on the data, Acompli appears to have fallen off after debuting as a top 10 ‘Productivity’ app during its launch. Mailbox, meanwhile, has consistently maintained its position within or near the top 100 ‘Productivity’ apps, while Gusto has swung wildly since its April launch, at times topping Mailbox in the category ranks and at others falling out of the top 1000.
We will continue to monitor the mobile app data for any significant shifts in the mobile email market. If you’d like to to stay abreast of additional mobile app store analyses and fast moving publishers, sign up for our free mobile app momentum newsletter.