Wandoujia, one of the biggest mobile app stores in China, announced this day that it has secured $120 million in a financing round led by SoftBank Corp. Existing investor DCMand Innovation Works Development Fund (IWDF) also participated in the said funding, according to TechCrunch.
Chief Executive Officer Junyu Wang said in a statement that the new capital will be used "to accelerate our growth and more openly serve developers and the entire ecosystem by developing technology and innovation in mobile search," the report said.
Because Google Play is not widely available in China, there are over 200 app stores in the country. Wandoujia has taken some steps to differentiate itself from its rivals. For one, instead of starting out as a mobile app, the firm started as a desktop manager for Android. In addition, the company focused on making an app search engine in lieu of a store, the report explained.
High-profile Internet firms that have distributed their apps and content via Wandoujia include Line, Flipboard, Evernote, and Path, the report added.
Wandoujia was founded by former Google staff Wang in 2009. In 2012, the company launched Android desktop manager SnapPea, its first global product. Wandoujia is also the publisher of the monthly China App Index, TechCrunch reported.
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