AppsDaily raises INR 1 Billionfrom Zodius Technology Fund and other investors

AppsDaily raises INR 1 Billionfrom Zodius Technology Fund and other investors

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             Zodius Leads Funding Round

·         Funds to fuel:

o   Product development

o   Expanding market reach

o   Attracting fresh talent

AppsDaily Solutions Private Limited, India’s leading Mobile application development and Distribution Companyhas raised INR 1 Billion in a Series C round of funding from Zodius Technology, Ru-Net Ltd, Indo US Venture Partners (IUVP), and Qualcomm Ventures. This round was led by Zodius Technology Fund. Mumbai Angel investors have partially exited with multi-bagger returns in this round.

AppsDaily, a Digital Company was founded by Arun Menon and Ajay Menon in 2009.  AppsDaily has set-up a first-of-its-kindIndia-wide retail distribution network to sell Mobile Apps and Services to smart phone customers. AppsDaily has more than 3 million satisfied and paidcustomers through its 7000 strong retail distribution network that is spread across 700 cities selling its products. AppsDaily’s current products include Mobile Anti-Virus, Mobile Insurance, Backup Solutions, Mobile Privacy, SOS, various Mobile Utilities, mobilegames etc. Based on its huge success with its current bundle of Mobile Apps the Company is gearing up to launch Apps in the Education and Healthcare segments. The company has grown 10x in revenues in the last two years with current year net revenues expected to cross INR 1.3 Billion.

Gautam Patel of Zodius Technology Fund has joined the Company’s Board of Directors. The other investor directors on the Board are Vani Kola from IndoUs Venture Partners, Galina Chifina from Ru-Net and Rajiv Dadlani from the Mumbai Angels, as well as VarshaTagare from Qualcomm Ventures who serves as an observer on the Board.

Gautam Patel, Managing Director, Zodius, said “We are excited to invest in AppsDaily and back Arun, Ajay and the team. The Company is in a market defining position providing mobile applications to the fast growing India-wide smart phone 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."

The investment funds will be primarily used to expand the company’s product offering, launch its digital platform, further expand its retail distribution reach and make some key hires to further strengthen its management team. AppsDaily is one of the only companies in India which is combining the latesttechnologies and Apps of the digital Internet with existing last-mile retail & distribution sales reach. AppsDailywill launch a first of its kind hybrid App platform targeted at the Indiansmart phone customer who is shifting online but requires handholding, is currently paying in cash and demands the physical touch point customer experience. 

Arun Menon, Founder & CEO AppsDaily said “We are very excited to have Zodius on board and look forward to leveraging their extensive operating and investing experience. This funding allows us to go forward in executing our plans, to become the largest mobile apps and digital platform in the country. The digital journey of the country has just begun and with more than billion users still to buy a smartphone we are with our unique retail reach looking to become the digital gateway for Indian consumer.“

Ajay Menon, Founder, AppsDaily said “We have already created the category of Mobile Protection in the country and we will be using this funding to further our momentum in this space. We also want to extend our reach to 2,000 cities in the next 1 year and are also looking at investing in makingAppsDailythe preferred choice for every Indian consumer who uses the smart phone as his first and only screen for communication, entertainment, travel, healthcare, and education”

About AppsDaily Solutions Pvt Ltd:

AppsDaily, founded in 2008, is the largest Mobile App company in India with 1200+ employees across 10 offices with headquarters in Mumbai, India.  The company has pioneered the ability to sell Mobile Apps using more traditional channels like Mobile Phone retail distribution networks backed by a dedicated salesforce and are sold across 700 cities in 7000 mobile stores. AppsDaily is has grown 10x in revenues in the last two years and has 3 million paid customers.  With access to key data insights about usage and preferences AppsDaily is positioned extremely well to become the leading branded “Curated Appstore” to the Indian Smart phone user.

About Zodius Technology Fund:

Zodius Technology Fund (ZTF) is a partnership between Avendus Capital, a leading India-based financial services firm and the management team of Zodius, an investor-operator of India-centric technology companies. The fund investsin emerging leaders in high growth Digital and SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) based Business Services. The targeted Digital Business investments would cover both Internet and Mobile, and areas such as Media, Commerce and Consumer Services. Business Services investments would be focused primarily on SMAC driven IT/BPO opportunities to build new disrupters, or restructure and redirect existing companies toward new high growth market segments. The fund is also invested in, (i) Bigbasket.com (eGrocery), (ii) Culture Machine (Digital Video Media), (iii) ZyFin (ETF), and (iv) Antuit (Analytics).

About IndoUs Venture Partners

IndoUS Venture Partners (IUVP) is a leading venture capital firm which provides early and mid-stage funding to new or growing businesses in India.  They are passionate about investing in entrepreneurs who are poised to be tomorrow's global leaders. They seek companies that are capturing new markets, providing innovative solutions, and creating new wealth for India and beyond.

About Ru-Net Technology Partners

Ru-Net is one of the leading Russian VC fund investing globally in the leading companies in customer and technology space with a focus on e-commerce, marketplaces, platforms, SAAS and big data.

Started in 2000 and making the name with early investments in OZON (largest horizontal e-commerce in Russia) and Yandex (leading Russian search engine) Ru-Net now invests out of the third 700 million USD fund and has a portfolio of more than 40 companies spanning across Russia, Europe, Turkey, India, USA and South East Asia.Ru-Net has offices in Moscow and New York.

About Qualcomm Ventures

Qualcomm Ventures, the venture investment group of Qualcomm Incorporated, was launched in the United States in November 2000 with an initial US$500 million allocation. Qualcomm Ventures’ aim is to support Qualcomm’s mission of enabling and fostering 3G and wireless industries through investments in privately owned start-up ventures. These investments include companies focusing on wireless communication technologies and products serving consumer, enterprise and vertical segments worldwide.