KOCHI:In an effort to draw more investment into start-up ecosystem of the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to the Truecalller co-founder and CEO Alan Mamedi, inviting him to visit the state.
In its first-ever acquisition in Indian market, the Swedish company on Wednesday acquired the Kerala-based mobile payments start-up Chillr (Backwater Technologies Pvt Ltd) for an undisclosed amount.
Taking pride in the recent acquisition, Vijayan said, “Chillr is a company started in Kerala by a set of entrepreneurs straight out of their college. This acquisition is a testimony to the talent ecosystem in the state and capability of graduates from Kerala.”
Inviting Mamedi to undertake a state visit to better understand the technology sector, the Chief Minister said the state has made remarkable progress in the technology space with multi-nationals like Nissan Motor Corp taking up the lead to set up a digital innovation centre here.
“The state is launching many schemes to build a talent pipeline as per the industry needs in areas like machine learning, blockchain and artificial intelligence. Kerala is home to a vibrant start-up ecosystem with a government-appointed Start-up mission to support it as well,” said Vijayan, elaborating on the state initiatives.
Reacting to the invite Mamedi said: “We are glad to receive the letter from the Chief Minister of Kerala. Looking forward to visiting the state and explore future possibilities.”The Chillr acquisition is the second major acquisition of a Kerala start-up by a big overseas company. In August 2016, Kochi-based start-up Profoundis was acquired by US-based FullContact for an undisclosed amount.