To buckle up, please insert the metal tab… Urban Airship lands $5.4 million and 25,000 square feet of office space

Big big news coming out of the Portland startup scene in the wee small hours of last night. And now that you’ve had your cup of coffee or tea or whatever, why don’t you take a moment to settle in and catch up. Ready? Okay.

Urban Airship, makers of awesome services that help iPhone and iPad developers make stronger connections with their customers by doing less coding, has dropped a whale of release. They’ve announced $5.4 million in funding—bringing them up to $6.5 million total—and a huge new office space in the Pearl.

Yeah. Whoof indeed.

Okay. First the funding.

You know, people are always saying that Boulder, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon, have a lot in common. Wait. Or maybe that’s just me. Whatever the case, they’ve got another commonality now with UA’s latest investor, the Foundry Group.

Ring any bells? It should. That’s Brad Feld‘s company. You know, the whole TechStars thing? Yeah, that’s the one.

The [$5.4 million] round was led by Boulder, CO-based Foundry Group and is the first investment from Foundry Group’s second fund, Foundry Venture Capital 2010, L.P. Additionally, the company announced that Jason Mendelson, Managing Director of Foundry Group, has joined Urban Airship’s board of directors. True Ventures and Seattle-based Founders Co-op, both of whom participated in Urban Airship’s Series A investment, announced in February 2010, also joined the Series B round.

And while the funding news is simply huge, the fact that Urban Airship is moving into the former Ziba space—a sprawling 25,000 square feet—may be even bigger news. That’s a far cry from their humble beginnings huddled around a desk or two at PIE, a little over a year ago.

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Honestly, there hasn’t be a startup real-estate move this big—hell there hasn’t been any business real-estate move this big—since Jive announced they were moving into the old Federal Reserve building more than two and half years ago.

“It’s been a wild ride here at Urban Airship,” said CEO Scott Kveton. “From the early support of PIE to the local tech community to everybody in between helping us build this company, it’s been an incredible experience to see it grow from an idea just a year and a half ago into a real business in such a short time. But rest assured, the best is yet to come.”

More on the Urban Airship deal from around the Web

Remind me to tell you a little story about embargoes sometime.

Here’s what folks around the Web are saying about the Urban Airship deal.

ReadWriteWeb: iPad Subscriptions (To Anything!) Made Easy by Freshly Funded Startup

Can the iPad save the magazine star? It might, if Portland, Oregon startup Urban Airship has anything to say about it.

For all their dreams of success in a medium that privileges big pictures, multi-media and a touch interface, publishers of periodical content have been frustrated by the lack of subscription sales options on Apple’s iPad. Urban Airship is a small startup that has begun to power iPad subscription to content for publishers including NewsWeek, the Atlantic and the National Basketball Association. The company, which was founded with the help of a unique government unemployment program and online bacon sales (seriously), announced tonight that it has raised a second round of venture capital, $5.4 million from the Foundry Group, True Ventures and the Founders Co-op.

For more, see iPad Subscriptions (To Anything!) Made Easy by Freshly Funded Startup.

TechCrunch: Urban Airship Closes $5.4 Million Funding Round To Help Power Mobile Apps

Urban Airship, a startup that makes it easier for mobile app developers to offer push notifications, in-app purchases, and other key features, has closed a new $5.4 million funding round. The Series B round is being led by Foundry Group, with existing investors True Ventures and Founders Co-op also participating. Foundry Group’s Managing Director Jason Mendelson will be joining Urban Airship’s board.

For more, see Urban Airship Closes $5.4 Million Funding Round To Help Power Mobile Apps.

The Oregonian: Urban Airship lands second VC round, bigger offices

With its business expanding rapidly, Kveton said, Urban Airship could have funded growth with its own revenue stream. Instead, the company has decided to reach for the brass ring — adding developers and new services while chasing new customers. By the end of 2011, Kveton said the company could employ as many as 50.

For more, see Urban Airship lands second VC round, bigger offices.

VentureBeat: Foundry Group bets that Urban Airship’s mobile infrastructure will keep flying

The Portland, Ore. company launched in June 2009, demonstrating at our MobileBeat conference that month. It announced its initial $1.1 million in funding in February of this year. Since then, Urban Airship said it has added more than 2,500 customers, sent more than 1 billion notifications to 35 million more devices, and powered more than 650,000 in-app transactions. Verizon Wireless has also named Urban Airship as the preferred push notification providers on the Verizon developer network.

For more, see Foundry Group bets that Urban Airship’s mobile infrastructure will keep flying.

mocoNews: Urban Airship Raises $5.4 Million To Build App Services

Scott Kveton, co-founder and CEO of Urban Airship, remembers the leaner times well. Two years ago, he could not afford to attend Apple’s annual worldwide developer conference in June, but showed up anyway to launch his company. He passed out danishes to the hungry developers waiting in line for Steve Jobs’ keynote. On the sidewalk, he met Tapulous, the company’s first customer, which later got acquired by Disney (NYSE: DIS). Based on those successes, he went back this year, splurging on both tickets, and a coffee cart for the thirsty developers in line.

For more, see Urban Airship Raises $5.4 Million To Build App Services.

Mashable: Push Notifications Startup Raises Another $5.4 Million

You might not be familiar with Urban Airship by name, but if you have ever used an iPhone, BlackBerry or Android app that offers push notifications or in-app purchase options and notifications, you’re familiar with what Urban Airship does.

For more, see Push Notifications Startup Raises Another $5.4 Million.

Xconomy: Urban Airship Nabs $5.4M from Foundry Group, Moving Full Throttle in Mobile Software Space

Anyone who says software startups don’t bring in big investment dollars anymore, clearly hasn’t been paying attention to Urban Airship.

Beyond being one of a new and interesting class of startups that are part software, part mobile, the Portland, OR-based company is bringing in some major financing, including its $5.4 million Series B round led by Boulder, CO-based Foundry Group.

For more, see Urban Airship Nabs $5.4M from Foundry Group, Moving Full Throttle in Mobile Software Space.

PE Hub: Urban Airship Lands $5.4M Series B Led by Foundry Group

Urban Airship, a Portland, Ore.-based startup whose technology powers mobile applications, is announcing it has raised a $5.4 million Series B round, which brings its total funding to $6.5 million. Boulder, Colo.-based Foundry Group led the financing, joined by True Ventures of San Francisco and Seattle-based Founders Co-op, led by serial entrepreneurs Andy Sack and Chris DeVore.

For more, see Urban Airship Lands $5.4M Series B Led by Foundry Group.

Keep your eyes on the skies

Phew doggies! That’s big big news. And news that benefits the entire Portland startup and mobile community.

I always knew Urban Airship had something special going—and were continually building an incredibly talented team. And it’s really impressive to see the investment community take an interest in their pursuits.

For more on what’s next, visit Urban Airship. Or follow @urbanairship on Twitter.