Snaptu

Snaptu, initially known as Moblica, was an Israeli startup established in 2007 by founders Ran Makavy, Barak Naveh, Micha Berdichevsky, and Lior Tal. The company was conceived to deliver a smartphone-like application experience to the vast market of feature phone users, representing a significant portion of mobile users globally who did not have access to advanced smartphones.

The core of Snaptu's service was a Java-based application platform that acted as a gateway to various popular internet services. Its technological approach was distinct; instead of running applications directly on the resource-constrained mobile devices, the processes were executed on its own internet servers, with a lightweight client on the phone. This server-side processing allowed Snaptu to offer a rich, app-like experience on over 2,500 different models of feature phones. The platform aggregated a collection of over 30 applications, including social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as news, sports, and entertainment services, all accessible through a single, downloadable application.

Snaptu's business model was primarily ad-supported, which kept the application free for users. To drive adoption, the company formed strategic partnerships with mobile carriers in various countries, such as Telcel in Mexico and Vodafone in Romania, to offer periods of data-free access to its services. This strategy proved effective, and by January 2011, the company had amassed over 78 million users worldwide. The firm secured venture capital from prominent investors, including Sequoia Capital and Carmel Ventures, raising $6 million in a Series B round in June 2010.

The company's trajectory culminated in a significant milestone in March 2011, when it was acquired by Facebook for an estimated sum of $60 to $70 million. This acquisition followed a successful collaboration between the two companies on the "Facebook for Feature Phones" application, which leveraged Snaptu's technology to expand the social network's reach into emerging markets. Following the acquisition, Snaptu's team and technology were integrated into Facebook to enhance its mobile experience on feature phones, and the standalone Snaptu application was eventually discontinued. The technology stack was later repurposed to create the Facebook Lite app.

Keywords: Snaptu, Moblica, feature phone apps, Java mobile platform, mobile web access, server-side processing, Facebook for Feature Phones, mobile application aggregator, Sequoia Capital, Carmel Ventures, Ran Makavy, Barak Naveh, Facebook acquisition, mobile emerging markets, app-like experience, ad-supported mobile app, carrier partnerships, Facebook Lite