Mobme looking to raise up to Rs 130 crore

Telecom and banking technologies start-up Mobme today said it is looking to raise up to Rs 130 crore in the latter part of 2017 to invest in research and development and expansion to international geographies.
"We are looking to raise Rs 100-130 crore after June, primarily for our digital banking and customer experience analytics businesses," its chief executive Sathya Kalyanasundaram told reporters here.
He said up to USD 10 million or 70 per cent of the money that will be raised by the decade-old company will be invested in research and development efforts, including conversational banking, voice technology and artificial intelligence products like chat BOTS.

Kalyanasundaram said the company is cash-positive right now and delivering profits every year, but it needs to do the investments keeping in mind the requirements of the future.
The investments, to be done over the next two or three years, will also mean a major shift in the positioning of the company from a technology support player who does a few things to doing intellectual property-led things, he said.
The company, which is backed by venture capital fund Agnus Capital and a few family offices already, is in touch with private equity funds and other investors for the upcoming fund raising, he said.

It is also open to raising money through hybrid instruments like convertible debt, he added.
The company won a "multi-million" deal from global telecom giant Vodafone recently and has also signed up with Future Group for implementing its customer analytics tools.
Kalyanasundaram said it is one of the leaders in banking mobility side like developing apps, saying it has a clientele of 13 lenders and in talks with eight more for implementing various solutions.