US firm Kirusa buys Cooltok

US firm, Kirusa said that it has acquired the business of Cooltok (also known as Plusray). As a result of this transaction, Kirusa has acquired all the technology, workforce, and intellectual property of Cooltok.

The Cooltok team, based in Bangalore, and led by Founder and CEO, Sreenivas Karanam, has extensively worked on mobile messaging apps for smartphone platforms, and shares Kirusa's vision for a mobile connected world. The Cooltok team, including the CEO, and co-founders Prakash Kaja and Thomas Mathew, will join Kirusa's office in Bangalore.

"Kirusa develops voice and social media mobile apps for emerging markets. Kirusa's InstaVoice app offers a stunning user experience to mobile users by seamlessly integrating telecom messaging such as SMS, Voice SMS, missed calls and voicemail, with OTT messaging such as texts, pictures, location, videos, and group chat, through its partnerships with dozens of mobile carriers around the world," a statement said.

"The Cooltok app, available on Google Play store, shares the goals of InstaVoice. With this acquisition, Kirusa is looking to accelerate realization of it vision of bringing the next generation of messaging apps that deliver unparalleled value to mobile users, made possible by working together with mobile carriers around the globe. The acquisition also strengthens Kirusa's intellectual property in the area of mobile apps," it said.

"The IP based technologies that we developed for mobile apps, when combined with the product portfolio of Kirusa and the reach of its partner base across continents, will enable us to address a huge opportunity going forward. We are excited to join Kirusa and be a part of its vision to be the leader in this space," said Sreenivas Karanam, Founder and CEO, Cooltok.

"The technology developed by Cooltok's team, as well as their knowledge and experience, will be invaluable in delivering the third wave of messaging apps that look to combine the benefits of the carrier services with the benefits of the OTT services. Kirusa is expanding globally and we will continue to make use of opportunities for partnerships and acquisitions that will help us realize our vision of providing seamless messaging and social media experience to all mobile users, regardless of their devices, and regardless of their mobile network," said Speaking about the acquisition, Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO, Kirusa.