
VCs commit $100m to China app launcher Apus
Chengwei Ventures, SIG Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners have led a $100 million Series B round of funding for Apus, a Beijing-based company that has developed a suite of products intended to speed up Android operating systems.
Northern Light Venture Capital and Redpoint Ventures, which provided the Series A round in October 2014, also participated. Founder Tao Li, who previously worked a US-listed Chinese online security software provider Qihoo 360, confirmed the funding to local media. He added that Apus is further its international expansion, with Latin America, India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East particular targets.
Apus was set up in June 2014 to close the perceived user experience gap between Android and iOS systems. Its flagship product, Apus Launcher, enables users to customize their phones so that favorite services and features are easy to access. Apus claims the product reduces an operating system's memory usage, allowing it to work faster.
There are a string of related products, such as Apus Boost, which cleans up a device's memory, and Apus Market, which draws on a selection of apps from Google Play based on apps that have already been downloaded and apps that are popular with users in the same geographic area.
Apus has around 90 million users, with over 70 million monthly active users. Most of its users are said to be in overseas emerging markets.
The name Apus comes from the family of birds known as swifts. The largest species of swifts are among the fastest fliers in the animal kingdom, with even the common swift is capable of speeds of 112 kilometers per hour.
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