Mobile advertising firm InMobi said on Wednesday it is partnering
APUS, a Chinese start-up that customizes Android software, in an
alliance that InMobi expects will help it reach 500 million new users in
China and other countries by 2016.
InMobi competes with Google and Facebook
in the $100 billion global mobile advertising market, and is one of the
few Indian start-ups to make a profit. It already reaches 1.4 billion
devices and turned profitable in the three months to December.
With
the partnership, APUS will earn revenues through advertisements on its
apps that run on InMobi's platform. InMobi will help APUS boost its user
base and share in India's booming smartphone market.
InMobi's
deal with the Chinese company comes on the heels of media reports that
Google plans to re-enter China, making it crucial for the Indian company
to secure its base there. Google largely pulled its services out of
China five years ago, after refusing to self-censor search results.
APUS's
flagship product lets users of the Android operating system customise
their smartphone home screens. The Chinese firm aims to acquire more
than 80 million users in India by 2016, the companies said in a joint
statement.
InMobi is also betting heavily on its new mobile
advertising product, Miip, that takes curated lists of products to
customers based on their personalities and choices.
InMobi,
currently estimated to be worth around $2.5 billion, was set up in 2007
and is backed by the likes of SoftBank and early Google
backer Sherpalo Ventures.
Its founder and chief executive Naveen
Tewari told Reuters that more than 65 percent of his company's business
will come from Miip, which will bring in about $1 billion in revenues
over the next couple of years.
Clients for Miip include Amazon.com Inc in India and Spotify.
© Thomson Reuters 2015