Teewe-Maker Raises $3 Million Funding, to Enter Smartphone Market With Android-Based OS

The company launched its website Creosense.com and announced it had raised $3 million (roughly Rs. 20.3 crores) in funds from Sequoia India, Beenext Ventures, and India Quotient.

The startup will be developing a proprietary software OS based on Android, and then launching a smartphone by the first half of 2016, said Sai Srinivas, Co-Founder and CEO, Creo, in a conversation with Gadgets 360. The Android based OS will have access to the Google Play store, and the company plans to license its OS to other OEMs in India and worldwide.

"From a functional aspect our OS aims to deliver features that are not there on any other phone, with a promise of building new features on a regular monthly basis," he said, adding that the OS will continuously evolve to provide new experiences.

(Also see: 12 Indian Hardware Startups That Are Making an Impact)

The Sequoia-funded startup had launched its first hardware device, Teewe in September 2014, and Teewe 2 in May 2015. Teewe added torrent streaming functionality through an update in late December 2015.

(Also see: Teewe 2 Review: Plug and Play Streaming Media Player)

Earlier this week, Mumbai-based MoFirst, the makers of FirsTouch OS had recently re-branded its regional language smartphone operating system as Indus OS, to go with its fund-raise of $5 million (roughly Rs. 34 crores).