It’s no surprise that investment firms are bullish on mobile upstarts, but a series of recent funding moves reveals the smartphone-driven companies marketers should keep an eye on.

1. Popular teen messaging app Kik closed $50 million from WeChat-owned Tencent, and this week’s news follows the app’s $38.3 million Series C funding in November. Kik is now valued at $1 billion.

With 240 million registered users—70 percent of whom are 13 to 24 years old—Kik’s funding puts it squarely in position to compete head-to-head with Snapchat as both companies look to build out new chat features.

2. Kahuna grabbed $45 million from Sequoia Capital and other investors to go after a bigger piece of the automated marketing space, which includes heavyweights like Oracle and Salesforce.

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