Funding news can only mean one thing; the investors believe that a certain company has the potential to grow. So who is investing in whom? Let us find out.
Ericsson Claims Minority Stake in Novatium
Swedish telecom giants Ericsson have picked up a minority stake in Chennai based Novatium, a company that builds computing platforms. Ericsson joins a list of telcos including Bharti, BSNL, MTNL and Tata. Novatium is backed by Rajesh Jain’s Emergic Ventures, and by US-based investors New Enterprise Associates.
This funding helps Novatium increase and establish itself in the foreign market. Currently, Novatium has a range of products like the Nova Navigator and the Nova cNergy. With a broadband connection and a processing device called Nova Navigator, users can access operating systems and work on applications such as MS Office on a monthly rental basis.Founded in 2007, Novatium has sold over 40,000 devices, since first commercially launching the Navigator in 2009. With money from Ericsson, the sales on Novatium devices will only rise across the globe.
Naspers Invests in OLX
South African-based Naspers has invested in OLX, a classifieds website that may give Craigslist a run for their money soon. According to reports, OLX had, prior to this round of funding, raised around $30 million from various venture capitalist firms. Though OLX has not disclosed the investment by Naspers, insiders believe it to be anywhere in the range of $20 million to $40 million.
OLX has come closer to Cragislist in a market where other classifieds have failed to ruffle the feathers of Craigslist. Though OLX is leading the Latin American and Asian markets, Craigslist still rules the rooster in the US. Maybe with the money from this funding round, OLX will be able to step up their game in the US and really challenge Craigslist in their own backyard.
Wishes for this amazing technology of Novatium. Hope this tie up with Ericsson takes them to the international Arena.