Is Jawbone planning something big?

Little over four months since the mobile headset specialist closed a $49 million strong round of funding made by Andreeson Horowitz, news of an even larger investment has come to light.

This time, a group of unnamed investors have stumped up $70 million through JP Morgan Asset Management, bringing total funds raised for the San Francisco based firm to almost $170 million.

Making moves

The sudden burst in investment has coupled an overall expansion in the firm's business, with Jawbone now operating in 28 countries in all.

The firm has also launched a new range of mobile accessories with its Jambox Smart Speaker – a launch TechCrunch believes will be followed up by the imminent unveiling of an entirely new product category.

However, while the company may well have a big move under wraps, CEO Hosain Rahman has claimed the massive injection of funds is simply a reaction to the smartphone market Jawbone had long prepared for suddenly coming to light post iPhone.

"The world came to us faster than we could have expected," said Rahman.

"The surprise isn’t that it happened; it's how quickly it happened. As recently as 2007 Blackberry was an $80 billion company. It's amazing how fast the rise and fall of companies in this space has been."

[source: TechCrunch]