It is hard to imagine, but the mobile industry is still relatively young. And nothing spells that out like new research from boutique investment bank Rutberg, which has analyzed the past decade of venture capital investing in the mobile sector.

And what did they find?

There’s actually been roughly $34 billion invested in mobile companies since 2001, with some of those bets generating $54 billion in “exit value.”

“We are in the beginning of a 10-year cycle in which mobile computing will reshape the way consumers live and businesses operate,” researchers at Rutberg wrote in their mobile report in July. “PC Internet is a ‘dress rehearsal’ for what will come with mobile, and the unforeseen applications in mobile computing will exceed those from the Internet thus far.”

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

But during a presentation last week, I was asked to name the up-and-comers in Seattle’s mobile industry. Put on the spot, I struggled to name any.

And that speaks to one of the problems facing the Seattle mobile industry, which has long been one of the hotbeds of innovation when it comes to wireless technologies. Where’s the next generation of wireless companies in the Seattle area?

According to the chart below, the last big mobile deal in Seattle was the purchase of Qpass by Amdocs.

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