OpenApp raises $1.3 M Pre-Series A from Unicorn India Ventures and KARSEMVEN

With freshly raised funds, smart lock maker OpenApp intends to expand in Asia and Africa and launch two new smart devices by the end of 2019.

Bengaluru-based smart lock maker Open Appliances, raised pre-Series A funding of $1.3 million on February 11. The round was led by Unicorn India Ventures and venture capital company KARSEMVEN. Existing investors Axilor Capital and Zoho Co-founder Kumar Vembu also participated in the round.

The company raised $550,000 in its seed round from Axilor Ventures and Kumar Vembu in 2017. OpenApp was incorporated in early 2015 by Gotama Gowda, Rajshekar Jenne, Siddhesh Keluskar and Mayur Chavan. It has raised almost $2 million so far.

OpenApp specialises in smart locks and also designs Bluetooth and GSM enabled smart locks, primarily for enterprises.

Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner of Unicorn India Ventures said:

"Innovation like smart locks is needed by large industries who store physical things. For centuries and even now, such industries have been using archaic method of safeguarding their assets. OpenApp Smart Lock has been seeing healthy traction and their product has a global appeal, which gave us confidence to lead the round in the Company."

Already operational in sixteen Indian states and two African countries, the company plans to further expand into Asia and Africa.

CEO Gotama Gowda said, "With the extended round and new partners Unicorn India and KARSEMVEN, the company intends to widen its lead. OpenApp is working towards deploying 100k (thousand) devices with more than half already fulfilled across Asia and Africa."

It plans to continue investing on its core software access platform. On the product side, OpenApp is planning to launch two new smart devices by the end of this year.