Route Mobile raises $117 mn in QIP from global funds Steadview Capital, PineBridge, others

By Beena Parmar

  • 19 Nov 2021
Credit: 123RF.com

Global and domestic investor funds, including Steadview Capital Mauritius, Pinebridge Global Fund and Kuber India Fund, have invested Rs 867.49 crore ($116.8 million) through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) in Route Mobile Limited, a messaging and voice application programming interface company, the company said in a regulatory disclosure.  

Mumbai-based Route Mobile (formerly RouteSms Solutions Ltd), is a cloud communications platform service provider, catering to enterprises, over-the-top (OTT) players and mobile network operators (MNO).  

The QIP saw interest from a mix of international and domestic investors. “Several existing and new shareholders participated in the QIP, including Steadview Capital Mauritius Limited, RBC Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Equity Fund, Kuber India Fund, HSBC Global Investment Funds, Asia Ex-Japan Equity Smaller Companies, Societe Generale – ODI and Verdipapirfondet DNB Global Emerging Markets, among others,” the disclosure said. 

Private equity (PE) investor PineBridge Global Funds (formerly AIG Capital) invested through multiple affiliates, including Pinebridge Global Funds - Pinebridge Asia Ex Japan Small Cap Equity Fund and Pinebridge Global Funds and Pinebridge India Equity Fund.  

“We have also closed the acquisition of Masivian S.A.S., Colombia, and are pleased to announce that Masvian S.A.S. is now a step-down wholly-owned subsidiary of Route Mobile Limited (w.e.f. November 11, 2021),” said Rajdipkumar Gupta, Managing Director and Group CEO, Route Mobile. 

The company paid the first tranche of the total consideration of $49.04 million to consummate the acquisition. Masivian S.A.S. will help us grow in Latin America and strengthen our presence in the region, he further said. 

In September 2020, Route Mobile went public with bumper-listing gains, following a Rs 600-crore (around $80.8 million) IPO that was covered 73.3 times. It became the second firm in the larger mobile communication services segment to go public, following Singapore-based Affle Holdings Pte. Ltd that went public in July 2019. 

Established in 2004, Route Mobile’s portfolio comprises solutions in messaging, voice, email, SMS filtering, analytics and monetisation. Its enterprise client base is across industries such as social media, banks, financial institutions, e-commerce entities and travel aggregators, the statement said.    

Besides India, the firm has a presence in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America.