Startup Reddo Gets Funding, Preps Partner Program For Mobilizing Windows Apps

Startup Reddo Mobility said Wednesday it has landed a $4.25 million funding round, and it's getting ready to launch a channel program that could be interesting to partners that work with VMware, Citrix Systems and Microsoft.

Reddo, which is based in Cambridge, Mass., and has around 30 employees, sells technology that lets enterprises transform their legacy Windows desktop apps to run on mobile devices.

Typically, this transformation requires Windows apps to be rewritten, which is expensive and time-consuming. But Reddo uses virtualization to transform the user interface for Windows desktop apps into a mobile-ready equivalent.

With Reddo, enterprises can avoid costly mobile development projects and mobilize their Windows apps more quickly, Josh Epstein, vice president of marketing Reddo, said in an interview.

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Reddo works with desktop virtualization technologies from Citrix, VMware and Microsoft, which most enterprises already have in place, Epstein said.

Reddo's product has three parts: The first is UX Connector, a service that runs alongside the desktop application -- whether it's running on a physical desktop, a virtual desktop, or through application virtualization or desktop-as-a-service.

UX Connector intercepts the UI-related communications between the apps and Windows, and translates them on the fly into an HTML5-equivalent interface, Epstein said.

There's also Reddo Adaptive UX Planner, a simple drag-and-drop interface that non-developers can use to build mobile UIs. Finally, there's an HTML5 application server for delivering the mobile UIs to mobile devices.

Ronald Kraft, president and CEO of GreenStart Consulting, a Margate, Fla.-based firm that works with Citrix and Microsoft, said Reddo solves one of the toughest technical challenges enterprises are facing today.

"Reddo is attacking an important business problem that many large customers are dealing with," Kraft said. "Delivering a true mobile user experience for existing Windows desktop applications is vital to returning value to mobility investments."

Reddo was formed last September after the restructuring of Gizmox, an Israeli startup that sold an HTML5 platform for mobilizing business apps. Gizmox had raised around $18 million since its founding in 2007 and this is Reddo's first funding round.

Past Gizmox investors Atlas Venture, IVIC and Citrix all participated in Reddo's funding round, and there's also a "new strategic partner," Reddo said in a press release.

Reddo is preparing to launch a channel program next week. Chris Lynch, a partner with Atlas Venture, told CRN that partners that work with VMware, Citrix and Microsoft can get significantly higher margins by working with Reddo, in some cases triple what they're already making.

Reddo is offering a fully validated production product under an "early access" program, with a commercial launch planned in April, according to Epstein.

PUBLISHED JAN. 8, 2015