Azingo, a US-based company that offers a complete open Mobile Linux stack, will be raising $50 million (approximately Rs 240 crore) in a Series-B funding from US-based private equity firm Garnett Helfrich Capital and a few strategic partners by the end of the current financial year. The company, which has its research and development (R&D) centres in Hyderabad and Pune, had earlier received $30 million (Rs 125 crore) from Garnett.
Azingo, one of the core members of UK-headquartered LIMO Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to creating an open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices, helps the foundation's 55 members, including nine tier-I operators like Verizon, Orange, SK Telecom and Soft Bank Mobile, to develop, integrate and tests its Mobile Linux software platform.
"Our Mobile Linux operating system is currently in the beta stage and we are in the process of commercialising the technology. The funds will be utilised to build applications for service and delivery to large operators and vendors, besides scaling up our workforce in India through the inorganic growth route," Azingo's chief executive officer Mahesh Veerina told Business Standard.
Veerina said they had identified a couple of companies in India and abroad that could bring in engineering talent, mobile application development, intellectual property (IP) or customer relations. It expected to wrap up the buyout deal in the next six to nine months. Azingo currently has 300 engineers working out of its Hyderabad and Pune centres. It will add close to 700 engineers in the country in the next one year.
The next-generation Mobile Linux operating system, Veerina said, had been completely developed in India. "The operating system will be showcased at the Mobile World Congress, scheduled to be held at Barcelona early next year. We will see commercial volumes of the operating system rolling out from next summer," he said.
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With the scale of the global industry seeking an open software platform, the mobile software and services market is projected to exceed $6 billion by 2009 with open platforms as the fastest growing sector of the market.