AppsDaily raises Rs100 crore from Zodius Technology Fund and others Current News

AppsDaily raises Rs100 crore from Zodius Technology Fund and others

Livemint:  April 01, 2015

Mumbai: AppsDaily Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based developer and retailer of mobile phone applications, said on Tuesday that it raised Rs.100 crore in its third round of funding.

This round was led by Zodius Technology Fund, with Ru-Net Ltd, IndoUS Venture Partners (IUVP) and Qualcomm Ventures also participating. Mumbai Angels made a partial exit from the company in this round.

The funds will be primarily used to expand the firm’s product offerings, launch digital solutions, expand its retail distribution reach and hiring. “We want to extend our reach to 2,000 cities in the next one year and are also looking at investing in making AppsDaily the preferred choice for communication, entertainment, travel, healthcare, and education,” co-founder Ajay Menon said in a statement.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) states that the country is the third fastest growing mobile app market in the world, behind the US and Europe. Since India has more mobile phone users than personal computer and laptop users, the future of apps seems bright. At present, there are over 9,000 app development companies in India, according to a report by industry group Nasscom.

AppsDaily was founded in 2008 by Arun Menon and Ajay Menon. The firm has set up a retail distribution network to sell mobile applications and services to smartphone customers. Its products include antivirus, insurance, backup solutions, privacy and mobile games.

“The company is in a market defining position providing mobile applications to the fast growing India-wide smartphone customer. They provide a very important bridge to the Indian digital consumer who wants access to best-in-class services but is still grappling with bandwidth availability and cost issues,” Gautam Patel, managing director of Zodius, said in a statement.

The company has over 3 million customers and a retail distribution network of over 7,000 partners that are spread across 700 cities. It expects to cross Rs.130 crore in revenue in the current year.