Google set to lead $250 million round by mobile startup Glance

The outlay would increase Google’s bets in the world’s most populous country, where it vies with local contenders as well as global peers Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. for new growth areas.

Mobile content provider Glance is in advanced talks to raise capital in a funding round led by existing backer Google, a move that would allow the Indian startup to expand its reach.

Glance InMobi Pte. is set to raise as much as $250 million as soon as within a few weeks, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the talks are private. The fundraise isn’t yet finalized and discussions may still break down.

The outlay would increase Google’s bets in the world’s most populous country, where it vies with local contenders as well as global peers Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. for new growth areas. Google’s Android mobile operating system dominates in India, but competition from rivals such as Apple Inc. is intensifying as tech firms target the country’s rapidly expanding middle class.

Representatives of Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., didn’t respond to a request for comment. A Glance representative said the company doesn’t comment on speculation.

Glance delivers a curated screensaver for mobile devices, which shows users content such as news without them having to unlock their displays or open any apps. It says it has more than 300 million users in countries including India, the US, Japan and Indonesia.

The startup raised money from Google in late 2020. It won the backing of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani in 2022 with a $200 million investment that valued the company at more than $1 billion.

Glance’s largest holder is mobile-advertising firm InMobi Pte. Naveen Tewari, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, founded InMobi in 2007 with fellow engineering and business-school peers. InMobi won the backing of SoftBank Group Corp. and went on to become the first venture-backed Indian startup to reach unicorn status in 2011. Tewari then co-founded Glance in 2019.