Cube26, a New Delhi-based technology innovation focussed company, has raised ₹50 crore seed funding from global investment firm Tiger Global Management and online retailer Flipkart. The company would use 85 per cent of the funding for technical upgradation and R&D, and remaining to add headcount.

“A major part of the funding came in from Tiger Global, while Flipkart made a minority investment,” Saurav Kumar, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Cube26 told BusinessLine. He, however, did not disclose exact percentage of the funding provided by the companies.

Cube26,which was founded by entrepreneurs Saurav Kumar and Abhilekh Kumar Agarwal (CTO) in 2011, customises Android platforms for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The company was bootstrapped by the founders and now counts Indian firms such as Micromax, Karbonn, Intex Technologies and Chinese companies such as Coolpad as customers.

According to industry estimates, the company is valued at $75-80 million. “Technology innovation will be key to India’s growth and we are looking for the next big software innovation from India, and this investment is a step towards the same,” said Nishant Verman, Head Corporate Development at Flipkart.

The company’s technological upgradation includes working on Internet of Things (IoT) that includes design and prototypes, and working with system partners who are building utility applications. “We also intend to develop software products and work on smarter devices in the IoT (Internet of Things) space,” Kumar added.

The company also plans to set up a laboratory in Bangalore. At present, it has two in-house labs, one for data science and another for consumer electronics.

Cube26 will also use the funds to grow its headcount from the present 65 to 500 in 1-2 years. Of the total 500, the company intends to add about 100 in the next two quarters itself. At present, Cube26’s software resides on more than 5 million devices or 4 per cent of all mobile users in India.

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