We usually restrain from writing about “capital raising” news and issues, but this one really caught our eyes. French mobile Linux developer Purple Labs raised $14.5 million in their first round from Sofinnova Partners, which led the round, and investors Earlybird and Partners Group.
The strange thing about this is that while we know Linux on mobile phones is the future, the question is do we actually need one more flavor/version of it. There are already few mobile Linux distributions on the market and some others will come in the (very) near future. Guess Purple Labs and its investor things there’s still room for one more player…
What differentiate Purple Labs from the other mobile Linux developers, is that apparently their solution is among the first ones with approval from European carriers. In addition, it’s also interesting to note that they primarily plan to push their platform to be used in the lower-end feature phones to reach wider market — and make more money I might add. Guess French Alcatel and/or Sagem could jump-in and finally release a decent smartphone. We’ll see…
[Via: RedHerring]