Mango Man, the startup behind the Chromecast-like video streaming device Teewe, has just secured a $1.75 Million seed round from Sequoia and India Quotient, Tech-Portal has learned. The startup will use this fresh capital to expand Tewee into global markets and subsequently add similar, affordable products to its line-up.
The round, though pivotal to Mango Man, is aunique in itself. That is because India hasn;t seen much investor confidence in the field of Consumer Electronics. While Xiaomi is the biggest example of a consumer electronics startup going big, India doesn’t have such big names to count for.
Teewe, Mango Man’s flagship product, though looks and feels similar to Google’s Chromecast offering, is probably a better take over the search giant’s product. You ask Why ? Well for starters, Chromecast necessarily needs internet connection to work. Now that may be well suited for users in western hemisphere, it definitely isn’t suited for India (Chromecast was recently launched in India), keeping in mind the very expensive data packs in the sub-continet, still giving you just enough data to probably use WhatsApp or Facebook.
Mango Man CEO and co-founder Sai Srinivas says,
We are very thrilled with this round of funding from Sequoia Capital and India Quotient Fund, and consider it a validation of our founding principles. Teewe is our first attempt to change the way users experience video streaming, and we will continue this quest with upgrades for Teewe and launch of new products that will revolutionize home entertainment.
Teewe, unlike Google’s Chromecast, doesn’t ‘necessarily’ require internet connection. Once you install the Teewe app, it can play all your stored offline content from your smartphone. This feature is something, which is tailor-made for Indian audience and will definitely find surging popularity within the subcontinent.
The Device in itself is a complete CPU with a Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 Processor, 1.5+ GHz and 1GB of DDR 3 RAM. Works with any TV with an HDMI Port and needs a Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connection to stream.
Teewe Plays well with most of your devices with support being added for newer devices every day. Currently you can #iskoteewepedekh from Android 4.0 and above, iOS, Mac OS, Windows Vista and above, Linux and with the new plugin available, from Chrome Browser too.
Teewe just recently introduced a Chrome Plugin, which allows you to stream videos directly from your web browser. The plugin received decent traction from Bangalore’s developer community, to which they opened a special preview last Saturday. Plugin’s seemingly simple user interface and hassle-free integration with the dongle is what attracted every developer to this little device.
Teewe currently claims to have sold a staggering 10,000 units already, and is aiming to touch the 50K mark soon.
Mango Man Consumer Electronics was founded in 2013 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubh Malhotra and currently has a team of 22 comprising of engineers, designers and hackers. The company received angel investments from Kavin Bharti Mittal, Pawan Ongole, Arun Seth and Palaash Ventures.
We’ll soon be featuring a comprehensive video review of Teewe (and then giving the same as a freebie to our viewers !) soon. Stay Tuned.
