Smartphone maker Smartron secures funding from GlobalFoundries CEO
HYDERABAD: Homegrown smartphone maker Smartron has secured undisclosed financing from Sanjay Jha, the chief executive of GlobalFoundries, one of the world's largest contract manufacturers of semiconductors.
Including Jha's investment, Smartron has raised about Rs 100 crore since its inception in 2014. The company is in advanced talks with investors for another Rs 200 crore that it plans to use primarily for research and development.
"(Jha) has a lot of experience and expertise in the semiconductor and mobile space. He also ran Motorola Mobility (before joining GlobalFoundries),“ said Smartron chairman Mahesh Lingareddy. "His governance would help the company go in the right direction."
Jha, who joins former India cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar as an investor in Smartron, was earlier an investor in and chairman of Soft Machines, a chip-design company cofounded by Lingareddy and sold to Intel last year for nearly $300 million. Jha will join Smarton's board of directors.
Hyderabad-based Smartron, founded by Lingareddy, Narsi Reddy and Rohit Rathi, has so far launched a smartphone and a convertible laptop. It plans to launch several other products in the coming months, including a smartphone targetted at Tendulkar's fans.
Smartron, which expects to earn revenue of Rs 50 crore for the 2016-17 financial year, recently invested in a Chennai-based automotive startup, Volta Motors, and has about five more deals in the pipeline. The investments are to encourage startups to build products on the Smartron platform.
"It could be an investment or a complete acquisition, keeping (the target company) as independent entity with a minority or majority stake or a commercial relationship," said Reddy, managing director of Smartron. "We are talking to a few of them right now from the verticals of health, energy, agriculture, etc."
Including Jha's investment, Smartron has raised about Rs 100 crore since its inception in 2014. The company is in advanced talks with investors for another Rs 200 crore that it plans to use primarily for research and development.
"(Jha) has a lot of experience and expertise in the semiconductor and mobile space. He also ran Motorola Mobility (before joining GlobalFoundries),“ said Smartron chairman Mahesh Lingareddy. "His governance would help the company go in the right direction."
Jha, who joins former India cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar as an investor in Smartron, was earlier an investor in and chairman of Soft Machines, a chip-design company cofounded by Lingareddy and sold to Intel last year for nearly $300 million. Jha will join Smarton's board of directors.
Hyderabad-based Smartron, founded by Lingareddy, Narsi Reddy and Rohit Rathi, has so far launched a smartphone and a convertible laptop. It plans to launch several other products in the coming months, including a smartphone targetted at Tendulkar's fans.
Smartron, which expects to earn revenue of Rs 50 crore for the 2016-17 financial year, recently invested in a Chennai-based automotive startup, Volta Motors, and has about five more deals in the pipeline. The investments are to encourage startups to build products on the Smartron platform.
"It could be an investment or a complete acquisition, keeping (the target company) as independent entity with a minority or majority stake or a commercial relationship," said Reddy, managing director of Smartron. "We are talking to a few of them right now from the verticals of health, energy, agriculture, etc."
