Apperian picks up first enterprise iFund payout

The iFund has been pretty influential ever since it was announced a couple of years ago -- it's a pool of money set up by Apple and a few other companies to support and grow companies that are contributing to the iOS ecosystem.

It's been growing along with Apple's platform, and now the fund has made its first contribution to an enterprise developer. Apperian is a company that helps enterprises create and deploy their own mobile apps, and it's picked up $9.5 million in a round of funding that includes money from the iFund.

We've covered the use of iPhone and iPad in business quite a bit, and Apperian sits squarely in that wheelhouse, consulting with various companies on how to create and securely distribute their own mobile apps. iFund's Matt Murphy says that Apperian is riding the wave of mobile devices that are showing up in the corporate workplace, and that "Apperian's solution is perfectly timed to help enterprises rollout and manage all their applications across their employee base and its wide variety of smart devices."

Sounds like a solid plan. It's excellent to see Apple's platform growing in all kinds of different directions.