APUS Sets up APUS Fund in India with 3 Billion Rupees as Initial Investment

BEIJING, Dec. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 26, APUS Group, the world's fastest growing mobile internet company, announced the foundation of APUS Fund in India. It will be led by APUS Group and also include Northern Light Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Chengwei Ventures LLC, SIG Global and Qiming Venture Partners. The initial investment will be 3 billion rupees and focus on mobile Internet innovation projects in the Indian market.

Mr. Tao Li, initiator of APUS Fund, founder and CEO of APUS Group, said, "As an emerging market, the Indian market's potential is great and we would like to extend our assistance to the early stage start-ups. Being one of the crucial markets for us, the foundation of APUS Fund will accelerate the development of APUS Group and strengthen our relationship with the country. We would like to express our gratitude for the support from the five investing firms and hope to build a positive ecosystem for mobile Internet industry in India through investments in start-ups."

Indian Mobile Internet Enters Outbreak Period

It was known that the outbreak period of the Chinese mobile Internet industry was from 2010 to 2014 with high-speed development lastingfrom 2011 to 2013. However, in India, this began happening 2 to 5 years later. Therefore, It is predicted that the outbreak period will be from 2015 to 2018 and high-speed development from 2016 to 2017.

In terms of user number, by the end of 2014, there were 300 million Internet users with 242 million of them being active users. Among them, 160 million users surfed the Internet through smartphones, making Internet penetration 23.4%. In the next 2 to 3 years, there will be another 100 million new Internet users and by 2017, the overall number will exceed 500 million, with an Internet penetration of nearly 40%. At the same time in China, Internet users will number 638 million and Internet penetration will be 48.4%. In the meanwhile, India will be the second country with 800 million smartphone users, with a 150 million increase in 2015, 250 million in 2016, and 300 million in 2017.

China and India both enjoy great demographic dividends. And similar to China, the rapid development of India will rely on the demographic dividend. However, compared with China, young people account for a larger part of India's total population. Youth under 34 years old account for 68% in population while 18 to 34 year-olds account for 34%. APUS Group has 30 million users in India and 80 percent of them are from 18 to 34 years old.

Last but not least, in light of the infrastructure, smartphones are becoming increasingly popular in India, especially with mobile phones being priced around 1000 RMB now as opposed to 5000 3 years before. The construction of a 3G network has been completed andthe Indian government is prioritizing WIFI and 4G construction. In the future, access to the Internet will cost less and the infrastructure will boost the development of the mobile Internet in India.

APUS Fund Will Promote Indian Mobile Internet Development

In recent years, GDP in India has increased by 7.5% annually and people now have more disposable income. E-commerce, payment, and network advertisement alliance account for the majority of the Indian Internet market. Users have consumption capability but there are not enough traffic resources. Therefore, there is a great potential for traffic products.

At the same time, the demographic dividend in India has produced a large number of local products and technical personnel. Even in theinitial stages, there have been some mature and potential start-ups founded in the Indian mobile Internet market. APUS plans to support these companies with financial support, user resource, traffic support, marketing promotion and brand building along with financial aid. It will also assist in enhancing market value, seizing development opportunities, and developing localized products and services.

APUS has also invested in IamWire which focuses on venture capital investment and established strategic partnership with many incubators in India. Through regular discussion and project introduction, this will access APUS Fund to potential Indian projects. At the same time, APUS has netted more than 30 million users in India and set up a local team for business promotion, strategic cooperation and R&D, which means influential brands and traffic resources. These will help APUS Fund to find, analyze and invest potential projects and maintain rapid development.

Besides in India, APUS Fund can also provide support for Indian start-up companies who wish to enter Chinese market through its APUS Global Mobile Internet Incubator in Beijing. APUS will provide one-stop services including registration, office, accommodation, administration, human resource, legal support, etc. to help Indian companies understand and adapt to the Chinese market.

In the tide of the new technical revolution and global mobile Internet, APUS Fund enters the Indian market with 3 billion rupees. This is the first time that a Chinese Internet company has entered the Indian Venture capital market and devoted itself to helping create a mature ecosystem and business environment for Indian start-ups.

About APUS

Founded in June 2014 by APUS group CEO Li Tao, who has 16 years' experience in the Chinese Internet market. APUS Group's mission is to deliver the world's most intuitive user experience to Android smartphone users worldwide. As a top 10 developer on Google Play, APUS Group develops critical system apps that collectively embody the APUS User System, the world's fastest, smallest, most simple user system for Android users, including APUS Launcher, APUS Search, APUS Browser, APUS Headlines, APUS Discovery, APUS Know, and APUS Message Center. In September 2015, APUS User System gained its 250 millionth user, and APUS product series gained its 510 millionth user worldwide.

Learn more about APUS Group at http://www.apusapps.com.
Download APUS User System: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apusapps.launcher&referrer=id%3D100089