Linux phone designer gets USD 14.5 million — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{An initial round} Linux phone designer gets USD 14.5 million

25 Sep 2007 at 18:12 GMT Timo Poropudas

Purple Labs, a supplier of embedded Linux solutions for the wireless industry, announced today that it secured USD 14.5 million (EUR 10.5 million) in an initial round of venture capital funding.

This investment comes five months after Sofinnova bought out Purple Labs’ previous Spanish owner. The round was led by Sofinnova Partners (Paris), Earlybird (Munich) and Partners Group (Zurich). The funding will allow Purple Labs to expand its business into new markets and to strengthen the company’s position with existing partners.

Purple Labs was among the first companies in the world to ship a Linux mobile phone fully approved by European network operators. From its beginning as a design center specializing in mobile phone development, Purple Labs has expanded its operation to market and distribute its full, low-cost Linux solution.

“The open operating systems market for mobile is now taking off and Linux will represent a large market share. Purple Labs has not only a fully operational technology allowing the lowest cost handsets to run on Linux, but also a fully proven technology already embedded in millions of phones, said Roland Manger, an Earlybird Managing Director.

Purple Labs has made substantial investments in Linux over the years, convinced of its benefits to design houses, ODMs and manufacturers looking for a powerful software platform on which to build their future products, commented Dennis Donovan, co-Founder of Purple Labs. We pleased to have respected investors validating our technical choice in Linux. We look forward to rewarding their faith in the Purple Labs team.

With a long history in Linux software development and in depth knowledge of mobile phone design and customization, Purple Labs is in the position to meet even the more demanding needs of its customers. The company offers a complete solution spanning from hardware reference design to a complete customisable Linux software suite, thereby offering customers a true one-stop-shop solution.