Net4Nuts looks for VCs to fund expansion

Five months after the soft launch of its flagship low-cost application MeOnGo, which enables push email on all internet supporting mobile devices, Ahmedabad-based Net4Nuts is on the lookout for venture capitalists (VCs) to fund its plans to market the product overseas.

The company had earlier tied up with a major telecom operator for the basic version of MeOnGo and has just wrapped up a deal with another top Indian telecom operator for an exclusive updated version.

MeOnGo, short for 'Me on the Go', allows a user to read emails on a mobile. Access is also available from any POP3 or IMAP4 based mailboxes. The service works over Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and supports versions 1.1 and above for Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Extensible HyperText Markup Language( XHTML).

Since its low-key launch, the company claims that its application has acquired over 20,000 users both individuals as well as enterprises in over 100 countries. Company officials say that one of the main reasons for the product clicking with users is that there is no charge for the MeOnGo services.

Users only have to pay applicable charges for browing usage depending on the mobile service provider.

With interest from telecom operators especially in South Asia and Middle East, the company will expand its marketing and sales team and focus on foreign shores for the product in the next four to six months.

For this, it is in talks with venture capitalists to hive off some stake from the company to raise around $2 million dollars (Rs 10 crores).

"We are now looking at taking MeOnGo to major telecom providers in countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Phillipines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, some in South America and South Europe where we have growing number of registered users," said Chirag Patel, CEO, Net4Nuts.

According to the company' estimates, the number of users across the world having email on their mobile phones would see a jump of atleast 20 times. From 6-8 million users across the world, the number would in likelihood go up to 150 million in the next four years, said Patel.