(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Visto, a major provider of mobile email services but better known for its patent infringement suits against BlackBerry and other rivals, said it has raised $51 million in new funding and added AOL's former top executive to the company's board of directors.
The new round of investment, led by Oak Investment Partners with new investor DFJ Growth Fund, brings the total venture capital raised by Visto to $186 million.
Barry Schuler, the former chairman and chief executive of AOL, is a managing director at DFJ and will be joining Visto's board.
Visto, whose mobile email delivery service is often sold by cell phone companies under their own brands, said it will use the new funds to grow its subscriber base with major customers such as Britain's Vodafone Group and Japan's Softbank.
The market for wireless email has become mired in a series of nasty patent battles.
In late April, Visto sued Research in Motion, maker of the market-leading BlackBerry mobile device, alleging infringement of its patents covering wireless email technology. RIM countersued Visto a week later.
Visto also sued Microsoft in December, claiming the latest Windows software for handheld devices infringed on three of its patents. It then filed a similar lawsuit against lesser-known rival Good Technology in January.
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