JPush Raises Fresh Funding in China’s Crowded Notification Market

JPush, a push notification solution provider, has announced an eight-digit Series B funding led by Fosun with participation of Mandra Capital and returning investor IDG Capital Partners. The company’s CEO Wang Xiaodao disclosed that the new funding is earmarked for R&D, infrastructure construction and marketing.

JPush is a third-party push notification service targeted at both iOS and Android platforms, helping app developers to engage with their user bases more quickly and effectively.

The company also offers a data analytics service that shows metrics such as how many notifications were clicked and opened, and which platform has a higher reaction rate. In a move to expand beyond the notification business, JPush’s latest product JPush IM allows developers to integrate IM features in the apps.

As of right now, the company claims to have a user base of 1.6 billion, covering 900 million mobile devices on the Android and iOS platforms. It has partnered with 80,000 app developers and provided service for more than 170,000 apps. The startup claimed to push over 300 million notifications per day for clients like SF Logistics, Tuniu, DXY, China Telecom and China Eastern Airlines.

China witnessed the first wave of app notification push services five years ago, marked by the founding of JPush in 2011 and Getui, which received Series B funding last year, in 2012. The two companies are now two of the largest players in the industry now.

The booming market has since attracted big internet companies like Baidu (Baidu Cloud Push), Tencent (XG Push), Alibaba (Umeng), Xiaomi (Xiaomi Push) and Huawei to enter the industry in 2013 and 2014. China Mobile, a leading carrier in the country, also rolled out its push service Youtui last year,

China’s third-party notification market now consists of different forces, ranging from internet giants BAT to startups, as well as smartphone developers and telecom carriers. But these companies are still trying to seek a valid business model. Most of their features are currently free and only a small number of value-added and custom services are actually monetized.