A Brazilian mobile software company by the name of Spring Wireless has established its North American headquarters in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, with plans to add as many as 35 workers here over the next 18 months. Most of the new additions will be in sales and marketing, said Shakil Haroon, the former Microsoft manager who is serving as general manager of the office. Last August, the company raised $66 million from Goldman Sachs and NEA to help fuel its worldwide expansion, including a deeper push into the U.S.

"The U.S. market has lagged the rest of the world as far as mobile software applications, but in 2009 and 2010 we see a hockey stick effect," said Haroon, who previously spent seven years at Microsoft working on Windows Mobile and other products. He's joined in the Seattle offices by former Microsoft managers Liron Shaked -- who is overseeing corporate marketing and business development - and Kelly Malone -- who is serving as vice president of sales.

Founded in 2001 in Sao Paulo, Spring Wireless's software works with more than 180 devices so that workers can be more effective away from the home office.

"It helps a field-based person to do a variety of tasks without having to hook into the back end databases like Oracle, SAP, Siebel and the like," said Haroon. The concept sounds similar to Bothell mobile software company Dexterra, though Haroon downplayed the similarities.

Interestingly, NEA -- one of the big backers of Spring Wireless -- also is a major investor in Dexterra. Could Spring Wireless' move into Seattle signal a deeper integration between the two companies or something else? It will be interesting to see if anything develops on that front.

Haroon joined Spring Wireless in September, noting that the company chose Seattle because the management team was based here. He also said the company was interested in being near the wireless businesses in the region.

Spring Wireless employs more than 650 people worldwide. It has about 220 customers, including Gillette, Kraft, Citibank and others.