It looks like we are seeing a wave of Boston’s Quattro Wireless tech mafia moving on to new ventures. Lars Albright was in business development and media at Boston based m-Qube, which sold to Verisign for $250M. He went on with three other people from m-Qube to co-found Quattro Wireless, which sold to Apple in January 2010 for $275M. Albright and Quattro are credited with creating the technology that now power’s Apple’s mobile advertising solution, iAds.
He is now co-founder and CEO of a new mobile startup in Boston, Session M. Other founding team members include Scott Weller (Chief Technology Officer) and Mark Herrmann (Chief Product Officer). The bare-boned Session M website hints at what’s to come from this talented team of serial entrepreneurs, who aim to help app makers build customer loyalty:
“Our team at session M loves how mobile apps are changing the way people interact with content. As the app ecosystem continues its explosive growth, developers are looking for new ways to achieve higher rates of engagement, and deliver even more rewarding experiences to their users. This is where session M steps in.”
CTO Scott Weller began writing about the mobile industry this February on his Tumblr, where prior to it was really only a place for him to share photos. At the time he announced leaving Scientific Games where he was VP Product to “pursue a new venture in the mobile/social gaming space.” The post went on to discuss various communication and technical tools he was using to get “setup,” including a section on Ruby on Rails — suggesting this programming language is behind the solution. A day later he wrote a full post on his team ethos, summarized in one line at the end: “Work hard, play hard, care harder.”
CPO of Session M, Mark Herrmann, also has a background in gaming, coming from GameLogic where he was COO.
Yesterday, Weller posted a link on Tumblr with the title “Announcing Session M Inc.” This was alongside a BusinessWeek article on Apple alums, which provided Session M its first press — including that it had raised $6.5 million. The round was led by Highland Capital Partners (investor in Quattro) and includes Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as well as other “notable mobile industry leaders.” The money from wKleiner Perkins comes from its iFund for iPhone and iPad startups. From the BusinessWeek article:
“After selling mobile ad startup Quattro Wireless to Apple (AAPL) in late 2009, Lars Albright took a job helping the iPhone maker work with its community of mobile app developers. He noticed that programmers were having trouble keeping users glued to their apps. Voilŕ: business opportunity. This spring he left Apple to start Session M.”
We look forward to learning more and following this mobile company being built in Boston.
