The Israeli creator of the Zemingo application is on the takeover trail

Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Zemingo, Israel’s largest mobile app maker, is planning more acquisitions that will help it double annual sales.

The company, which bought New York design studio Yellowtale for $2.5 million in late 2014, aims to strengthen its position in the growing market for custom applications that help companies run more efficiently.

One such iPad app for Swedish company Verisure Securitas Direct was designed to help sales staff generate leads, analyze customer needs and prepare price quotes. It also allows management to track sales staff in real time.

British research firm VisionMobile says businesses and professional users spent more than $28 billion on enterprise applications in 2013, a figure expected to rise to $58 billion by 2016. Most of the revenue comes from custom applications.

Zemingo CEO Zvi Frank sold his Internet conferencing company Interwise to AT&T for $130 million in 2007. Zemingo employs 80 people and plans to hire another 50 this year.

The company recently purchased 9Design, renaming it Yellowtale, to serve U.S. customers and is expanding its PandaPepper subsidiary’s mobile marketing operations.

“We are very profitable and we are doubling our sales every year,” CEO Tsiki Naftaly told Reuters, adding that sales amount to tens of millions of dollars.

Zemingo plans to increase its activity in the United States, mainly through acquisitions. Naftaly focuses on companies from the portable computer industry and the so-called Internet of Things, as well as development studios with a strong customer base who want to penetrate new markets.

The Israeli business competes with American rivals Fueled and MentorMate, as well as London-based Golden Gekko, which was bought by Digital Management Inc. in 2013.

The company has four spin-offs in the gaming and telecommunications industries and is trying to raise money for three more, including BoatBook, a social network that helps boat owners know where others are sailing or dropping anchor.

(Editing by Steven Scheer; Editing by David Goodman)