Micromax makes first international investment, puts money in Dropbox rival MiMedia

Home-grown smartphone and tablet maker Micromax Informatics Ltd has made its first cross-border investment by putting money in New York-based consumer cloud startup MiMedia Inc. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

MiMedia is an online backup service for personal content (photos, videos, music, files) which was launched in 2010 by technology startup MiMedia, LLC.

"The world is moving to smart devices and, through these strategic investments, we are ensuring that our consumers relish services that enrich their experience," Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma said.  "We invest in companies that are providing revolutionary solutions for our customers and give them scale and access to our ecosystem. As a mobile first country, consumers' personal media needs must be easily accessed, organised and shared amongst family and friends. We saw this vision and much more in MiMedia," he added.

In addition to traditional file uploads, MiMedia enabled users to back up files using physical media via 'Shuttle Drive', a portable hard drive that was mailed as part of the subscription cost. However, 'Shuttle Drive' no longer exists – all backup is now done via the cloud.

MiMedia is similar to a number of other backup services, such as AltDrive, Mozy, Carbonite and Dropbox. However, MiMedia focuses only on consumers' needs. With an enterprise valuation of $10 billion in eight years, Dropbox is seen as one of the most successful tech startups of all times.

In May, Micromax announced that it will be making investments of $0.5-20 million in over 20 startups over 12 months.

In line with this strategy, Micromax has also set up an M&A team which has been actively sourcing and working with startups across Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel and India.

In June, Micromax made an undisclosed investment in Delhi-based Le Travenues Technology Pvt Ltd,  which runs the online travel search engine ixigo.com.