Smartron, a Bangalore-based IoT startup, has literally received two super awesome gifts today ! While on one hand, the startup has announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Sachin Tendulkar, the better part of the news — is the fact that India’s newest “God” has also become the brand ambassador of the company.
Commenting about this development, Sachin Tendulkar said:
I have always been fascinated by technology. Smartron’s founding vision for the need for a robust product ecosystem in the country to grow is very impressive. We need to support brands that are designed and engineered in India by our entrepreneurs and engineers that ably compete in the global markets.
I look forward to being part of the growth journey of Smartron buoyed by tremendous growth opportunities offered by IoT worldwide.
The company is said to be working in a stealth mode since August 2014. It is set to launch a range of smart devices and IoT products for consumer and enterprise markets in the first quarter of FY 2016-17.
The company aims to disrupt the IoT market with innovative products. It is set to achieve its goal in the technology space by building a global product brand from India and inspiring generations of engineers and entrepreneurs.
Commenting about Sachin’s involvement in the company, Mahesh Lingareddy, founder of the company, said:
We are very excited and privileged to have Sachin join us in our journey. He is one of the greatest Indian stories of our times, a true global icon and brand that disrupted the game of cricket, and inspired generations.
Currently, Smartron has Research & Development centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad with plans to shift production to India in the near future. The company claims that all of its products are being designed in India from scratch, industrial design to hardware to software.
While Smartron will be an India-first brand, the company is exploring the possibility of selling products in other markets also. In India, the company does not want to pursue the online-only strategy and is very optimistic about the possibilities of direct selling.
Last year, it was reported that the company will be partnering with Foxconn for the manufacturing of devices such as smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks and IoT devices. However, the remaining aspects of the product will be under the control of Smartron.
Smartron, which was founded in 2014, is being headed by its founder & chairman Mahesh Lingareddy. Mahesh is also the co-founder and CEO of Soft Machines Inc., a US-based semiconductor company which also has operations in India, and Russia.
This is not the first investment by Sachin Tendulkar in startup. He had earlier invested in celebrity fashion and memorabilia portal Universal Sportsbiz (USPL) and acquired a minority stake of the company.
