Type Privately Held Founded 2009 | Industry Mobile/Wireless | |
Headquarters Paris, France
Tel Aviv, Israel
Sunnyvale, California, U.S. Key people Ouriel Ohayon, CEO
Yann Lechelle, CTO Products App Discovery and Promotion Platform | ||
Appsfire is a provider of mobile advertising and member of the Mobile Network Group. Until the end of 2013, it was a mobile app discovery and promotion platform that allowed users to find mobile apps for iOS and Android, and provided tools and services for developers to market their apps. It was cofounded by its CEO, Ouriel Ohayon, the former editor of TechCrunch France, and its CTO and COO Yann Lechelle. There have been more than 10 million Appsfire app downloads since its launch. The company’s products have recommended 1.5 billion apps to its users, and it has more than 1.5 million daily users. The company is based is Paris, France, Tel-Aviv, Israel and Sunnyvale, California, U.S.
Contents
History
In 2009, Ouriel Ohayon and Yann Lechelle founded Appsfire.
In February 2010, Appsfire raised a round of seed funding. French angel investors Marc Simoncini, Jean-David Blanc, Jacques-Antoine Granjon, and Xavier Niel provided the financial backing, as well as Lerer Ventures.
In 2011, Appsfire received $3.6 million in Series A round of funding from IDinvest, a French venture capital firm. That same year, Appsfire hit 2 million users worldwide.
In 2012, Appsfire bought the app Appstatics, which helps developers track the ranks of their app in the iOS App Store and Mac App Store.
In 2015, the platform was acquired by the Mobile Network Group.
Concept
Appsfire provides mobile app discovery service for iOS and Android. The company builds applications and services that help find and recommend mobile applications that are relevant to each user; it can also find apps that are available for free or reduced in price. It ranks the apps by quality (App Score) rather than by the number of downloads.
In addition, Appsfire also offers tools for app developers to market their apps. Companies such as Barnes & Noble, Paramount Pictures, and Spotify have used the platform to promote their applications.
Products
Appsfire 4.1, released in 2013, is a free mobile app that helps users find relevant apps and app deals. It recommends apps based on user’s declared taste, and provides search results by app name, developer, category, or need. Users can share their activity on Facebook and Twitter, and view what their friends have bookmarked, saved, or downloaded. Each recommended app has a “Badge” feature that uses icons to indicate different aspects of an app, such as bestseller status, or if it is similar to another app.
In 2011, Appsfire introduced App Scores in their mobile app, a quality rank for apps. The app ranks applications on a scale from 1 to 100 with 100 being the highest score. It is based on an algorithm that takes into account the consistency, frequency, and velocity of app ratings taken from users’ download information, and combines that information with developer reputation and web mentions to determine the app’s score. App Scores gives a global view of an app’s performance. It can evaluate a new application’s value even if it does not have reviews or a ranking in the app store, and it can reveal lesser-known, high-quality apps. The app offers an alternative discovery system to the rankings of the app stores.
Appsfire’s App Booster Software development kit (SDK) is a marketing toolkit that allows developers to increase the engagement with their users. The SDK provides a two-way inbox for developers; it can send push and in-app notifications and cross-promote their other apps. It also provides a native feedback system with the corresponding analytics.
Appstatics tracks rankings of iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps in their respective App Store. Developers can find the app they want to track and consult with the reviews and ratings of every app in every country without creating a different local account in the app store.
Awards and recognition
In 2011, 148 App named Appsfire the "Best App Ever for Best App Bargain." In 2013, The Next Web named Appsfire the French startup of the year.