The world’s largest android app development Chinese company APUS is planning to invest Rs. 300 crore in Indian initial stage startups. “Apus wants to increase its user base from 30 million to 80 million and it don’t want to miss the opportunities that exist but are still largely untapped.” said co-founder Tao li. He added, “India represents a crucial market for us and we are confident that our initiatives will only strengthen our relationship with the country.”
The company said 500 jobs will be there in the next three years when they set up an operations centre, a global research and discussion centre and a technical support centre in the country. But the locations are yet to be finalized.
APUS has invested in iamwire and announced a long-term strategy partnership with InMobi. It plans to scout for more partnerships to increase its user base and market share in order to establish a larger footprint in India. “We are looking at providing more localised service and experience to Indian users and augment India-specific content to appeal the target audience,” said Li. For this purpose Apus will share the ideas and tech with local Indian enterprises although very rarely venture capitalist do so.
It should be noticed in series A funding round in June 2014, Apus received 100 million RMB from Northern Light VC and Redpoint ventures where as in series B round of funding just six months later it received $100 million from Chengwei Capital, SIG, & Qiming Venture Partners along with existing investors. Apus indicated the investors are happy with the decision there may be a chance that they too invest in india.
The decision naturally is beneficial for India as well as Apus. It will create jobs, provide more customized support to Indian users and back up the early stages startups. It’s a win win situation if everything goes well.
