Visto lands $35 million; likely to remain controversial

Visto, a mobile email provider, said Friday it landed $35 million in funding from Altitude Capital Partners. The funds, in addition to $51 million raised in September, "completes the financing at $86 million."
The funds will "accelerate Visto's continued worldwide growth, extend its product portfolio, and protect its foundational intellectual property."
The company has been a hot topic among bloggers tracking Silicon Valley. Matt Marshall at VentureBeat declared Visto Silicon Valley's most controversial company. ValleyWag also reported that Visto was on the rocks, but the financing contradicts that argument.
Visto's penchant for lawsuits is part of what makes the company controversial. The company has sued Good Technology, Seven Networks and Research in Motion recently.
Brian Bogosian, CEO of Visto, promises big things ahead.

"With this total of $86 million, Visto has a balance sheet that is stronger than any private company in this market. We have seen rapid growth with our customers over the last year and are exceeding BlackBerry volumes within key operator markets for the first time. In addition to this growth, over the course of the next few months, we will announce new strategic partnerships and mobile operator agreements. As the industry's only viable independent provider of mobile email, we are fully funded to support our worldwide partners and vigorously safeguard our intellectual property."

It remains to be seen what Visto's exit strategy turns out to be. It could go public, be acquired or stay private. The latter seems a bit hard to believe since Visto was founded in 1996 and has at least 9 venture backers. VCs don't hang out forever to get a return.
One thing is certain: Visto's plan to "vigorously safeguard our intellectual property" will make the company worth watching.