Phunware Inc. is an American mobile software and blockchain company. It produces mobile applications for advertising and marketing purposes such as personalized ad targeting, location tracking, and
cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...
brand loyalty programs.
In 2020, Phunware was the fifth largest advertising technology company in politics, receiving criticism for its involvement with the
Trump 2020 re-election campaign. In November of that year, it had more than 940 million monthly unique active devices and has 5 billion daily transactions, and had raised more than $120 million in capital since its founding.
History
The company was founded as Phunware, Inc. in Austin, Texas on March 25, 2009, by Alan Knitowski (CEO) and Luan Dang (CTO).
In 2014, as part of a $30M expansion, Phunware acquired Digby Mobile Commerce, also based in Austin. The acquisition included Dibgy's subsidiary
Movaya
Movaya was a Seattle-based technology company that developed mobile game distribution and management solutions. It was formed in 2004 by John Calian, Phil Yerkes and Stanley Wang. Movaya also operated a wholly owned subsidiary in Chengdu, China. ...
, based in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
and
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
, for an undisclosed sum.
In 2017, the company acquired Odyssey, Simplikate, Digby, Tapit! ($23 million acquisition in 2017) and GoTV.
Their customers in 2019 included
Fox Networks Group
Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual chan ...
,
HID Global
HID Global is an American manufacturer of secure identity products. The company is an independent brand of Assa Abloy, a Swedish door and access control conglomerate. Björn Lidefelt was appointed CEO on 27 January 2020. He succeeded Stefan Wid ...
, American Made Media Consultants, Presidio Networked Solutions, and
MD Anderson
Monroe Dunaway Anderson (1873–1939) was a banker and cotton trader from Jackson, Tennessee. With William L. Clayton, Anderson built Anderson, Clayton and Company (formed in 1904 by his brother Frank E. Anderson and Frank's brother-in-law, Will ...
.
Previous customers included
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
,
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
,
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
, and
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
. Applications that send data to Phunware servers include the campus map for
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...
and GunDealio, an app for gun sales from Gun Talk Media.
Phunware's location tracking was used, for instance, to target 2018 Democratic ads at participants in the anti-Trump
2017 Women's March
The Women's March was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after Inauguration of Donald Trump, the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. It was prompted by Trump's policy positions and rhetoric, which protesters called Misog ...
in DC.
Phunware provided campaign data, including "users' daily digital trail", to the Trump reelection campaign, through a $3 million contract awarded by
Brad Parscale
Brad Parscale (born January 3, 1976) is an American digital consultant and political advisor who served as the senior adviser for data and digital operations for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. He previously served as the digital medi ...
's American Made Media Consultants. They also built the Trump/Pence reelection app for the campaign in November 2019.
Phunware performed a
reverse merger
A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compan ...
with Stellar Acquisitions III, a
special-purpose acquisition company
A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a "blank check company", is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company, thus making it public without going through the traditional i ...
(or
shell company
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...
) in December 2018, placing Phunware on the NASDAQ exchange.
The company's non-GAAP adjusted net revenues were stated at $19 million in 2019, down from $22.5 million in 2018. The GAAP gross revenue was $19 million in 2019 and $30.8 million in 2018.
Fox Networks Group
Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual chan ...
was 50% of the company's 2019 sales, up from 42% the previous year. Phunware's active Fox contract was completed in 2019, meaning the sales could go to zero. The company had 93 employees at the end of 2019, after reducing their workforce by 44. In March 2020 the company furloughed 37 people.
In 2020,
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
co-founder
Larry Sanger
Lawrence Mark Sanger (; born July 16, 1968) is an American Internet project developer and philosopher who co-founded the online encyclopedia Wikipedia along with Jimmy Wales. Sanger coined the name and wrote much of Wikipedia's original governin ...
served on their
advisory board
An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...
.
On April 10, 2020, Phunware received $6.1 million in federally backed small business loans from
JP Morgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the wo ...
as part of the
Paycheck Protection Program
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES A ...
. The company received scrutiny over this loan for its connections to
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
.
In defense, Crowder (COO) said companies that didn't apply "aren't doing their fiduciary duty", and said "Banks aren't loaning to unprofitable tech companies. There is no access to capital".
On April 17, 2020, the company received a
delisting notice from NASDAQ due to the stock trading below a dollar. However, the company's shares increased to above a dollar before the stock was delisted.
On October 19, 2021, Phunware acquired computer system provider Lyte technology for $10.98 million to support their
blockchain
A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...
research and development efforts.
Court cases
On September 26, 2017, Phunware sued
Uber Technologies
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
for $3 million in unpaid services, accusing the ride-sharing company of failing to pay its invoices, court records from The Superior Court of California show. In response, Uber filed suit against Phunware, alleging the software company committed fraud by, among other things, allowing ads for the ride-sharing app to show up on unauthorized third party sites. Former employees said the startup looked for "new ways to diversify its revenue stream."
An October 9, 2020, SEC settlement shows that Phunware agreed to pay a total of $6 million—$4.5 million going to Uber—over claims of fraudulent advertising.
References
External links
* {{official, phunware.com
Companies based in Austin, Texas
Software companies established in 2009
2009 establishments in Texas
Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign
Companies listed on the Nasdaq