News

Truecaller Wants To Raise Over $100 Million In Stockholm IPO

Experts suggest that the upcoming IPO could take the company’s valuation to $3 billion.

Published

3 years ago

September 19, 2021

Joanna Melki

Truecaller

Truecaller, a smartphone app that identifies unknown callers has announced that it would like to raise $116 million in an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq Stockholm.

The company will be listing its Class B shares (common stocks or preferred stocks offering fewer advantages than Class A) by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.

“One of our objectives this year has been to prepare Truecaller for an IPO. Thanks to the strong feedback that we’ve received from potential investors, it feels very exciting to take the next step in this process,” commented Alan Mamedi, CEO of Truecaller.

When Truecaller completed a previous funding round in 2018, the company was valued at more than $680 million. Now, some experts are saying that the upcoming IPO could take its valuation to $3 billion.

The money raised in the IPO will be used for future growth, for general corporate purposes, and to provide strategic flexibility for opportunistic acquisitions, as explained by Truecaller in the official press release.

Truecaller was founded back in 2009, and it currently has more than 400 employees. Its user base is almost 300 million large, and most of its monthly active users (92 percent) are located in India. In fact, 720,000 of its 1.2 million Premium subscribers were from India, according to May 2020 statistics. Another major market for Truecaller is the MENA region where traditional phone directories have little presence.

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Unlike many other similar solutions, Truecaller is a complete communication solution that eliminates the needs to switch to other apps, providing a spam-free inbox for text messages and an intelligent dialer that can reveal the names of unknown numbers.

The Premium version of Truecaller brings to the table a number of other features, including the ability to record phone calls and track upcoming bills and other important items.

News

Viasat Satellite Messaging Tech Showcased In Saudi Arabia

The direct-to-device (D2D) demonstration highlighted the technology’s potential to revolutionize remote communication.

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2024

Nour Nasir

viasat satellite messaging tech showcased in saudi arabia

Satellite communications firm Viasat announced yesterday that it had completed its first demonstration of direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity technology in Saudi Arabia. The live broadcast took place during the “Connecting the World from the Skies” event in Riyadh, organized by Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST) alongside the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Attendees witnessed successful satellite-based two-way messaging and SOS alerts sent using commercial Android smartphones and a combination of Viasat’s robust L-band satellite network and the Bullitt over-the-top messaging app. Signals were transmitted using the company’s L-band spacecraft positioned over the Indian Ocean, while the infrastructure for 3GPP NTN services was deployed by Viasat’s partner Skylo.

Sandeep Moorthy, Viasat’s Chief Technical Officer, emphasized the significance of the demonstration, explaining, “By expanding our direct-to-device innovation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we’re showcasing the potential for D2D services in the fast-growing Gulf and Asia-Pacific region. D2D could help reduce barriers to connectivity in regions where terrestrial services are spotty and unavailable to help transform industries and supply chains, enable new opportunities, and to become more efficient, sustainable and safer. We’d like to thank the CST for their support in carrying out this exciting demonstration”.

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D2D technology allows devices like smartphones, vehicles, and industrial equipment to connect seamlessly to both satellite and terrestrial networks. Unlike traditional satellite setups, D2D eliminates the need for extra hardware, thanks to emerging global standards that are gaining traction among satellite operators, mobile network providers, and tech manufacturers.

What makes this approach particularly promising is that Viasat uses a licensed, dedicated satellite spectrum to deliver its D2D services. This avoids any interference with existing terrestrial networks, allowing smooth integration with mobile network operators in the future.

The demonstration clearly showed the potential of D2D technology to bridge connectivity gaps in remote regions while opening up opportunities for innovation, improved safety, sustainability, and efficiency.