Company behind GO Launcher funded $20 million by Chinese software companies

Sungy Mobile, the developer behind one of the most successful apps in the Google Play Store - GO Launcher, was financed with $20 million by Kingsoft and Qihoo360, two of China's major security and antivirus software developers. Plans for an inital public offering were announced a fortnight ago. When the company goes public, its value is expected to near $300 million. The anticipated sellout might raise between $67 and $77 million thanks to the 7 million US depositary shares (representing 42 million ordinary shares) which are to be sold out for as much as $11.50 a piece.

Sungy Mobile almost doubled its earnings for the first half of 2013 in comparison with the same period last year, with revenue of over $20 million. The company received the larger part of its income thanks to paid extra content for freeware apps like GO Launcher EX and GO Locker. Sungy Mobile is one of the bigger developers of customization apps for Android, with more than 500 million active users.

The company is about a decade old and successfully endured China's shift from feature phones to smart phones while also offered a 3G portal product that was used by more than 30% of the Chinese mobile internet users. The future goals of the company are expansion of its user base, strengthening and enriching its most successful customization applications and pursuing strategic alliances with companies, offering similar products.