Investors are betting big on Android and its open ecosystem – and given its rapidly growing market share, why wouldn’t they? – and have plunked down $100 million for the cause.
According to Mashable:
Investors have established the first investment vehicle dedicated to Android-focused startups and developers. Dubbed the A-Fund, the $100 million fund will invest between $500,000 and $4 million in products that will shape the Android ecosystem.
The A-Fund is being managed by DCM, a firm with a presence in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Toyko. Additional fund investors represent the top names in Asian mobile and social innovation and include GREE Inc., KDDI Corporation and Tencent.
DCM co-founder and general partner David Chao says that Android is a “rare and massive opportunity” that only comes once every major tech cycle. OK, sure, it’s not like one company made tens of millions of dollars off of a non-ad-supported version of a game for iOS in which you kill pigs with birds.
Of course, the same thing was already done with the iPhone and its platform three years ago:
It’s also following in the footsteps of esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. KPCB established the iFund with $100 million in 2008 to finance iPhone development, and then upped the ante to $200 million in 2010.
It boggles the mind to think that just five years ago, the general public didn’t really know what an app was, and now it’s a multi-million dollar business.
[Via: Mashable]