General Mobile gets $5m from Singtel Innov8, Mitsui
SingTel Innov8 and Japan’s Mitsui & Co. have led a $5 million round of funding for General Mobile, a company that provides mobile internet services to customers in emerging markets. Existing investors in General Mobile include Taiwan-based MediaTek, a leading mobile chipset manufacturer.
Founded in 2011, General Mobile has offices in Taipei, Shanghai and Shenzhen and its business covers Southeast Asia, Africa, India, Eastern Europe and Latin America. It provides mobile phone platforms, including app stores and billing platforms, to users in markets that are underserved due to technology limitations and fragmented supply chains. The company works in partnership with handset manufacturers and mobile content providers.
The latest round of funding will be used to expand General Mobile's business in these emerging markets.
"General Mobile's solution addresses the strong demands for mobile application and services seen by emerging market mobile users across our footprint," said Edgar Hardless, CEO of SingTel Innov8. "We look forward to working with the company to build and expand on their success to date."
As the corporate VC arm of Singapore telecom giant SingTel Group, Innov8 targets investments that have the potential to bring about change in network capabilities, next generation services, digital content services and consumer experience enablers. It has an initial fund size of S$200 million ($156.4 million).
Last week Innov8 teamed up with Australian telecom company Optus to create a seed program that will help digital start-ups in Australia expand into Asia.
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