IoT device maker Borqs raises $10 million from Qualcomm Ventures and Accel Partners India

Borqs, the company which develops customisable software and hardware solutions for IoT, has today raised $10 million in its fresh round of funding. The investment was led by Qualcomm Ventures and Accel Partners India, valuing the company at $303 million.

BORQS primarily designs, develops and provides turnkey solutions across device form factors from Smart Phones, Tablets, Smart Watches, Ruggedized Designs, Automotive IVI, Vertical application devices for restaurants, payments et al.,

While the valuation of the company has been revealed, other financial details related to the deal, including the funding amount, are yet to officially go public. With the closure of this Series E round, the total amount raised by the company till date is over $50 million.

Karthee Madasamy, vice president and managing director of Qualcomm Ventures India, said,

This investment will fund additional engineering capabilities to invigorate advances in the development of autonomous products and a connected society. This will help in creation of innovative 4G phone design expertise in India with local and global OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of design in India.

He further added that the company’s investments in India are to help fuel innovations by startups such as Borqs that are contributing to the mobile and IoT (internet of things) ecosystem.

Shekhar Kirani, partner, Accel Partners, said,

Borqs has a great set of customers and delivers end-to-end IoT solutions/platform. Our partnership with Borqs will fuel greater cooperation among our portfolio companies around the globe.

The company, founded in March 2007 by former Motorola employees Pat Chan, Bob Li and Hareesh Ramanna, had previously raised funding from Intel Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Keytone Ventures and others. It has its primary R&D centre in Bengaluru.

Borqs International Holdings has also announced a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed investment firm Pacific Special Acquisition Corp (PSAC), which is expected to be completed by end of April. Post the closing of the reverse merger, Borqs will become the operating entity of the combined company, with its shareholders expected to own about 78% of Pacific’s outstanding ordinary shares.

The company works with internet-connected device manufacturers to design chips as well as devices and software. Its customers include Qualcomm, Intel, Motorola, Reliance, AT&T and Sprint among others. For Reliance Jio, it launched what is called the FDD/TDD combined carrier aggregation high-speed 4G Android phone.

According to the company’s filings with US SEC, it had revenue of $112 million in 2016, and is looking at $160 million in 2017. It has projected revenue of $161.7 million for the current fiscal, with EBITDA of about 10%, and is also looking for its first manufacturing facility in India.