Jana Mobile

Jana Mobile, generally referred to as Jana, is a Boston-based mobile technology company that operates an advertising-funded platform providing free or subsidized mobile internet access to prepaid phone users in emerging markets. Its core consumer product, the Android app mCent, launched in June 2014, lets users download apps, watch videos, or otherwise engage with sponsored content and receive mobile credits (reported at 10 cents or more per action) that can be spent on data usable anywhere on the internet, including third-party apps, search, and video [0][2].

On the demand side, Jana sells app-install and short-video ad formats to brands and app developers seeking users in markets previously constrained by the cost of data. Reported clients and partners have included Twitter, Amazon, Google, Saavn, and WeChat, and by 2016 the company said it served more than 3,000 brands [0][1][2]. Jana's reach depends on direct integrations with mobile carriers' billing systems, which allow it to credit users' prepaid accounts; carrier integrations grew from 237 operators in 102 countries around 2014-2015 to 311 carriers by early 2016 [0][1][2].

The company positioned itself as one of the largest mobile advertising platforms in India, and described mCent as reaching more than 25 million registered users by mid-2015 and more than 30 million people by February 2016, across Asia, Africa, and Latin America [0][2]. By July 2018 the business had deteriorated: falling mobile data prices and ad rates in its target markets, plus Google's rollout of free Wi-Fi in hundreds of Indian train stations, were cited as reducing demand, and the company underwent severe job cuts in late June 2018 [3].

Founding story

Jana traces to Nathan Eagle's mobile-programming research at the MIT Media Lab, where he worked in Alexander "Sandy" Pentland's Wearable Computer Group and conducted early reality-mining studies using programmable Nokia phones to collect behavioral data from 100 MIT students over nine months. Eagle later relocated to Kilifi, Kenya, to work on call-data analytics for mobile operators, gaining access to operators' back-end billing systems. Confronted with chronic blood-supply shortages at a local hospital, he and students at the University of Nairobi built an SMS system for nurses to report daily blood-supply levels to a centralized blood bank. Adoption collapsed within a month because the cost of a text message represented a substantial share of a nurse's daily wage; after Eagle wrote code to reimburse nurses roughly 10 Kenyan shillings per accurate message plus a small bonus, usage recovered. That insight — that airtime compensation could fund participation, and that sponsors such as governments or consumer-goods companies could pay for it — led Eagle to co-found the company in 2009 under the original name txteagle [0][2].

Business model

Jana shifts the cost of mobile data from consumers to advertisers. Brands and app developers pay Jana to place sponsored content — primarily app-install offers and short videos — in front of prepaid mobile users in emerging markets; users who engage receive mobile credits or airtime that offsets their data costs. Delivery of that value depends on integrations with mobile carriers, whose billing systems Jana credits directly [0][1][2].

Advertiser-funded: clients, described as major app developers and consumer brands, pay Jana to acquire and engage long-term users in emerging markets, and Jana passes part of that spend to consumers as mobile credit [0][1][2].

Traction

Reported figures include: nearly 1.5 billion megabytes of free data generated by mCent users in the year preceding May 2015; more than 25 million registered mCent users as of May 2015 and more than 30 million users benefiting as of February 2016; more than 3,000 brand clients in 2016; and claims that mCent members use apps three to 14 times more than users acquired through other channels [0][2]. The Boston Globe reported an investor valuation of $300 million and about 100 employees at peak, citing a former employee [3].

Latest developments

A July 2018 Boston Globe column reported that Jana had raised about $90 million according to Crunchbase, had been valued at $300 million by investors, and had roughly 100 employees at its peak, but that declining data prices, falling ad rates, Google's free Wi-Fi rollout in Indian train stations, and leadership turnover had eroded the business. Severe job cuts occurred in late June 2018, and efforts were underway to sell the company or reboot it with a different strategy; CEO Nathan Eagle did not respond to requests for comment [3].