Robosoft Technologies, a mobile solutions provider from Udupi, has secured its second round of funding from Ascent Capital, with participation from the existing investor, Kalaari Capital.

Rohith Bhat, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Robosoft Technologies, told Business Line that the funding in this round is $12 million. Most part of it is by Ascent Capital and a small part of it by Kalaari as a follow-on investment. (It may be mentioned here that Robosoft had received venture capital funding from Kalaari Capital in 2013.)

Bhat said that the new round of funding will be used to bolster all the current offerings of the company across service segments. It will also help the company to invest in products and user acquisition.

Two of the subsidiaries of the company -- 99Games and Global Delight -- will be hived off as separate companies with these new investments, he said.

To a query on the reason behind hiving them off as separate companies, he said the whole idea is that these companies need not depend on Robosoft, if there is an opportunity for funding.

On the investments in these companies, he said the investment will be more or less equally distributed among three companies.

Robosoft plans to build near-shore capability in the US, Europe and middle-east with these investments. Robosoft partners with a host of clients in India and abroad, with a majority of business coming from the US-based clients.

99Games

He said 99Games has a two-pronged strategy to build games through licensed intellectual properties (IPs), largely for the Indian market; and to create own IPs for a global audience.

The immediate focus would be around driving user-acquisition focused marketing campaigns for Star Chef, the latest hit game from 99Games. Star Chef is growing over 30 per cent month-on-month in terms of monthly active users as well as monetization. The game, launched in August, is getting a great response worldwide, he said.

Global delight

Another separate entity, Global Delight, focuses on the iOS and Apple platforms in the audio, video and image domains. Global Delight’s ‘Camera Plus’ has recorded over 27 million downloads and part of Apple’s Best of 2014, he said.

The new round of investments will be used for expanding to the Android platform, user acquisition and taking the current crop of products to the next level in innovation, he said.

To a query on Robosoft’s plans on Apple Watch, he said the company is already working on several apps on Apple Watch for its customers.

Quoting Raja Kumar, Founder and MD of Ascent Capital, a press release said: “Robosoft has successfully demonstrated that an Indian company can create globally acclaimed mobile applications and games. We are excited to support this talented team build the next generation enterprise solutions and games for the global and Indian markets.”

Kumar Shiralagi, MD of Kalaari Capital, said: “Robosoft has positioned itself as a premium go-to company for complete mobiles solutions for the global market offering a complete range across strategy, design and engineering. We are confident of this strategy attracting the best of business partners globally.”

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