About Indus OS
Indus OS is a Media & Entertainment company based in Mumbai (India) founded in 2013 by Hari Padmanabhan, and was acquired by PhonePe in May 2021. It operates as an android-based mobile OS with regional language support is offered. It operates in the Media & Entertainment and Technology sectors. Indus OS has raised $17.56 million across 6 funding rounds from investors including PhonePe, Affle and Omidyar Network. The company has 96 employees. Its Indian entity Indus Appstore Private Limited reported revenue of ₹5.98 Cr. Its focus areas include Consumer, Vernacular Platforms, Operating Systems and Mobile Utility Tools. Its competitors include Android, Insyde Software, KaiOS, Jolla and DBOS and 4 more; 5 of its 9 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Indus OS, fka Firstouch, is a regional mobile operating system built on Android for catering to economic, social, and regional diversity of smartphone users in India. It features a virtual keyboard that comes with predictive text and swipe technology allowing users to translate and transliterate Indian regional languages text to English and vice versa with a swipe. The company also has an application marketplace called App Bazaar that features over 400,000 vernacular apps and comes with an integrated carrier billing payment gateway. As of 2018, it supports English and 23 other regional languages including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, to name a few. The company has partnered with Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Celkon, and Swipe for preloading Indus OS onto their phones. In 2016, it was declared the second most popular OS in India according to a research study conducted by Counterpoint Research with a 7.6 market share
- Headquarters Mumbai, India
- Employees 96
- Founders Hari Padmanabhan
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsMedia & EntertainmentTechnology
- Email••••••••
- Phone•••• ••••
- Website indusos.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook
- Acquired by PhonePe (May 2021)
- Legal Name Indus Appstore Private Limited
- Date of Incorporation 20 Oct, 2015
- Jurisdiction Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Associated legal entities of Indus OS
Indus OS operates through Indus Appstore Private Limited (active). Its filings, financials, charges and directors are on the company page.
| Legal entity | Status | Incorporated | Registered in | Revenue (FY 2025) | Employees | Directors | Company page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indus Appstore Private Limited CIN U74120TN2015PTC179835 | Active | 20 Oct 2015 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | ₹6.0 Cr | 96 | 3 | View details |
Funding Insights of Indus OS
Indus OS has successfully raised a total of $17.56M across 6 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series B round of $2.81 million completed in July 2020. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $17.56M
- Total Rounds 6
- Last Round Series B — $2.81M
- Investors Count 12
All 6 funding rounds of Indus OS with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2020 | $2.81M | Series B | – | Affle | – |
| Jul 2019 | $5.75M | Series B | – | Samsung Venture Investment | |
| Dec 2017 | $4M | Series A | – | Ventureast, Omidyar Network | – |
| Mar 2017 | – | Series A | – | Ventureast, JSW Ventures | |
| Jan 2016 | $5M | Series A | – | Omidyar Network | – |
| Sep 2015 | – | Angel Round | – | Kunal Bahl, Pranay Chulet |
13 investors in total: 7 institutional and 6 angel.
Investors in Indus OS
Indus OS has secured backing from 13 investors, including institutional, venture fund, and angel investors. Prominent investors backing the company include PhonePe, Affle and Omidyar Network.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Venture capital investments in technology, healthcare, and clean environment sectors since 1997. | 1997 | ventureast.net | Bengaluru, India | |
Investments are directed toward semiconductors, telecommunications, software, and medical sectors. | – | samsungventures.com | Seoul, South Korea | |
Investing in technology, digital culture, governance, and business initiatives. | 2004 | omidyar.com | Redwood City, United States | |
JSW Ventures is engaged in venture capital funding for startups. | 2015 | jswvc.com | Mumbai, India | |
Investments are made in early-stage companies by Titan Capital. | – | titancapital.vc | Gurugram, India | |
Consumer intelligence-driven mobile marketing platform is provided for user acquisition. | 2005 | affle.com | Singapore, Singapore | |
Payment, financial, investment, and lending services are provided digitally. | 2012 | phonepe.com | Bengaluru, India | |
KB Kunal Bahl | Co-founder of Snapdeal, Titan Capital, active angel investor in Indian startups | – | unknown_b9e61508219b4ddf9 | - |
PC Pranay Chulet | - | – | unknown_dd71d939b1174bd49 | - |
NT Naveen Tewari | Founder & CEO of InMobi, prominent angel investor in Indian startups | – | unknown_013ce05a664e4774b | - |
Investor details for Indus OS
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
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Board of directors of Indus Appstore Private Limited (Indus OS)
Indus Appstore Private Limited is the primary company behind Indus OS. The board of Indus Appstore Private Limited currently have 3 directors; the longest-serving is Akash Motilal Dongre, appointed in 2015. 8 earlier directors have ceased.
| Director | Designation | Appointed | Tenure | Entity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akash Motilal Dongre DIN 02196957 | Whole-time director | 31 Dec 2015 | 10 yrs 9 mo | Indus Appstore Private Limited |
| Priya Meenakshi Narasimhan DIN 10391556 | Whole-time director | 15 Nov 2023 | 2 yrs 11 mo | Indus Appstore Private Limited |
| Tessa Joseph Kallarackal DIN 11074959 | Director | 15 May 2025 | 1 yr 5 mo | Indus Appstore Private Limited |
People of Indus OS
35 people are tracked at Indus OS (9 in leadership, 26 in team); the tracked headcount is 96.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Hari Padmanabhan | Co-Founder | Leadership |
| CPO & Co-Founder | Leadership | |
Rakesh Deshmukh | CEO & Co-Founder | Leadership |
Satish Kumar | Head of QA | Leadership |
Chaitanya Panikrishna V | Head of Monetization | Leadership |
M Rahbar Zumar 感应 | APAC Head | Leadership |
Vaibhav Shastri | Director, OEM Sales | Leadership |
Anand Singh | Head, Developer Relations & Localization | Leadership |
Parikshit Nag | Head of Data & Analytics | Leadership |
Deepanshu Garg | Senior Software Engineer | Team |
Joshua Britto | Lead Software Engineer | Team |
Sundar Rajan | Senior Test Engineer | Team |
Anant Vashishtha | Software Engineer | Team |
Heetansh Jhaveri | Data Analyst | Team |
Shreya Surjan | Software Engineer | Team |
debabrata sena | Test Engineer | Team |
Deepak Rawat | Software Engineer | Team |
Suraj Kumar Jha | Engineering Team Lead | Team |
Janhavi Tikam | Sales Support Specialist | Team |
Shivam Pandey | Data Scientist | Team |
15 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for Indus OS
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Financials of Indus OS
Figures of Indus Appstore Private Limited, the primary company behind Indus OS, for FY 2025. Revenue was ₹5.98 Cr (+1199% year on year). Net loss was -₹158 Cr (-2636% margin). EBITDA was -₹81.08 Cr (-1356% margin). Revenue has grown at a compounded annual rate of -57% over three years.
- ₹5.98 CrRevenue · FY 2025 · +1199% YoY
- -₹158 CrNet loss · -2636% margin
- -₹81.08 CrEBITDA · -1356% margin
- ₹126 CrPaid-up capital
- 96Employees (provident fund records)
- -57%Revenue CAGR, 3 years
Balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow and ratios of Indus Appstore Private Limited are on its company page.
Detailed financial statements for Indus OS
Statement rows, ratios, five-year trends and downloadable financials of the group companies require an active premium plan.
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Timeline of Indus OS
4 dated milestones of Indus OS across 8 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Indus OS is founded.
- Funding First funding round.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series B, of $2.8M.
- Exit Acquired by PhonePe.
Competitors of Indus OS
Indus OS has 9 listed competitors in our database, 5 of them funded. They include Android, Insyde Software, KaiOS, Jolla and DBOS, among others.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| android.com | 2003 | Palo Alto, United States | – | – | Mobile operating system is offered for business touchscreen devices. | |
| insydesw.com.tw | 1998 | Taipei, Taiwan | – | – | Firmware solutions for computing devices are developed by Insyde Software. | |
| kaiostech.com | 2016 | Kwun Tong, China | $82.4M | 1 | Provider of operating system for mobile devices | |
| jolla.com | 2011 | Helsinki, Finland | $25.73M | – | Open source mobile OS and smartphones are developed and distributed. | |
| dbos.dev | 2023 | Cambridge, United States | $8.5M | – | Cloud-based serverless solutions for application development are provided. | |
| ubuntu.com | 2004 | London, United Kingdom | – | – | Ubuntu is developed as an open-source operating system by Canonical. | |
| miui.com | 2010 | Beijing, China | – | – | Delivers comprehensive solutions for the MIUI mobile operating system. | |
| jingos.com | 2016 | Beijing, China | $10M | – | Cloud-based mobile operating systems are provided for multiple devices. | |
| savaje.com | 1999 | Chelmsford, United States | $57.5M | – | Develops operating systems for handheld and wireless devices. |
Detailed competitors of Indus OS
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Top companies in Vernacular Platforms
10 companies that operate in the same segment as Indus OS (Vernacular Platforms), ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Platform connecting readers and writers, offering digital literature in multiple languages | 2014 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 92.65 M | USD 6.84 M | 162 | |
Customizable smart lock screen experiences are developed for mobile devices. | 2019 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 390 M | USD 73.11 M | 493 | |
App-based bookkeeping solutions are offered for small business management. | 2018 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 186.62 M | USD 165.88 K | – | |
Vernacular-based hyperlocal platform for online programming mentoring is developed. | 2014 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | USD 3.9 M | USD 4.13 M | 496 | |
Multi-category news is curated and delivered in multiple languages. | 2009 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 129.01 M | – | 942 | |
Subscription-based streaming of dramas, anime, movies, and shows is offered. | 2010 | Haidian, Beijing, China | USD 2.04 B | USD 3.8 B | 3,370 | |
Audiobooks and stories in multiple Indian languages are provided. | 2018 | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | USD 122.32 M | USD 12.17 M | 310 | |
Media content is shared on an app-based social network platform. | 2015 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 1.2 B | USD 86.42 M | 491 | |
News articles from various sources are aggregated and summarized concisely. | 2013 | Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India | USD 124.63 M | USD 22.15 M | – | |
Video streaming platform operated for on-demand entertainment access. | 2015 | Hong Kong, China | USD 410 M | – | – |
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Related news about Indus Os
Complete news archive for Indus OS
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Frequently Asked Questions about Indus OS
Indus OS was founded in 2013 and raised its 1st funding round 2 years after it was founded.
Indus OS is headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is registered at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Indus OS is a funded company, having raised a total of $17.56M across 6 funding rounds to date.
Indus OS has 96 employees.
The primary company behind Indus OS, Indus Appstore Private Limited, reported revenue of ₹5.98 Cr for FY 2025, up 1199% year on year.
Indus OS, fka Firstouch, is a regional mobile operating system built on Android for catering to economic, social, and regional diversity of smartphone users in India. It features a virtual keyboard that comes with predictive text and swipe technology allowing users to translate and transliterate Indian regional languages text to English and vice versa with a swipe. The company also has an application marketplace called App Bazaar that features over 400,000 vernacular apps and comes with an integrated carrier billing payment gateway. As of 2018, it supports English and 23 other regional languages including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, to name a few. The company has partnered with Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Celkon, and Swipe for preloading Indus OS onto their phones. In 2016, it was declared the second most popular OS in India according to a research study conducted by Counterpoint Research with a 7.6 market share.
Indus OS has 13 investors. Key investors include PhonePe, Affle, Omidyar Network, JSW Ventures, and Ventureast.
Indus OS operates through Indus Appstore Private Limited.
Yes. Indus OS was acquired by PhonePe in May 2021.
The legal entities of Indus OS currently have 3 directors, including Priya Meenakshi Narasimhan, Akash Motilal Dongre, Tessa Joseph Kallarackal.