MobME Wireless scraps IPO plan, raised around $3M in angel round

Kerala-based mobile value added services (VAS) company MobME Wireless Solutions Ltd, which had received an approval from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in its SME exchange, has scrapped the plans to float the issue after it raised around Rs 16 crore or $3 million last year, sources privy to the development told Techcircle.in.

When contacted by Techcircle.in, MobME co-founder Sanjay Vjayakumar said, "The IPO is postponed since we have already received funding from a few angel investors, who were planning to buy our shares through the IPO. This fundraising was to make sure that our growth plans are on track."

The news was first reported by Financial Chronicle.

Vijayakumar declined to share the financial details including the transaction value and names of investors.

For more details on the investors click here.

Founded in 2006 at Trivandrum Technopark by Vijayakumar (CEO), Sony Joy and Vivek Steve Francis (COO), MobME is a mobile, media and entertainment company focusing on VAS for mobile phone users and carrier grade solutions for network operators.

MobME's key partners and clientele include Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Idea, Tata Indicom, BSNL, MTNL, NDTV, Network18 and Café Coffee Day. The company also works with the state governments of Kerala, Goa and Nagaland, as well as central government departments such as Department of Science and Technology.

The firm was looking to raise around Rs 25 crore from the proposed IPO, skipping the conventional funding cycle of a tech startup – that of first bringing on board a venture capital investor.

The firm planned to use the money for acquisition of land and construction of software production unit and facilitation centre, procuring computers, peripherals and other infrastructure for these units, procurement of crypto SIM cards to be deployed in the pilot project, using mobile digital signature technology, licence fee to Valimo Wireless Oy for use of its technology, procurement of mobile digital signature certificates and procurement of 4,000 mobile phones.

It could have been the first student-incubated company to go for an IPO and had originally planned to be listed by March 2013.

Related

Kerala-based mobile VAS firm MobMe eyes $4.6M from IPO on SME Exchange

Kerala-based mobile VAS firm MobME gets NSE approval for IPO

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)