India’s home-grown smartphone operating system and native applications platform Indus OS has raised $4 million in its pre-series B round from existing investors Omidyar Network, Ventureast and JSW Ventures.
The latest funds will be used to accelerate brand partnerships, user acquisition and new product development. Indus OS will also partner with some of the major developers in the country through the expansion of its Brand Accounts, a novel integration of internet services within the OS platform.
“The continued faith shown by our existing investors will help us achieve our vision of empowering a billion Indian users with a smartphone platform of their choice. We will strengthen our efforts to build the Indus OS platform for developers to reach the Indian masses through dedicated Brand Accounts, a new way for Indians to discover the Internet,” said Rakesh Deshmukh, Co-Founder & CEO, Indus OS.
Launched in 2015, Indus OS climbed to the number-2 position in India within a year, ahead of global giants such as Apple’s iOS & Microsoft’s Windows. Currently, it commands a user base of 10 million, across its smartphone brand partners such as Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Celkon, and Swipe.
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Mumbai-based regional smartphone operating system also has its very own app marketplace called App Bazaar with over 400,000 applications.
Soon after setting up an office in China, Indus OS recently announced its first international brand partnership in November with itel Mobile, India’s 2nd largest mobile brand by market share. Indus OS now aims to acquire 100 million users in the next 3 years.
Ola Cabs was the first to launch a Brand Account on the Indus OS Platform in August this year which enables new users to discover Ola while existing users can transact seamlessly through the default messenger application.
Earlier this year, Indus OS announced the development of the first Aadhaar authenticated and UPI integrated OS in the country.
This latest round takes Indus OS’ total funding to $13 million. Earlier, the firm received Series A funding from Omidyar Network, VenturEast and JSW Ventures, and is angel funded by Hari Padmanabhan, Mayank Singhal from Temasek Holdings, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal from Snapdeal, Amit Gupta and Naveen Tiwari from Inmobi and Pranay Chulet from Quikr.
