Azim Premji’s Invest leads top names in funding Cyanogen

Cyanogen, the software maker building an Android-based operating system to take on Google, has raised a boatload of cash from some well-known sources, including Premji Invest, headed by Wipro founder and chief Azim Premji.

Cyanogen said on Monday it has raised $80 million in a series C round of funding led by venture-capital firm Premji Invest. Twitter's private-investment arm, Twitter Ventures, as well as Qualcomm, and even media bigwig Rupert Murdoch participated in the funding round. In total, Cyanogen has raised $110 million since 2009.

Although Google's Android platform is the dominant force in mobile operating systems, Cyanogen is trying to change that. The company has its own mobile operating system, called Cyanogen OS, that's built completely on Android. However, the company has transformed Android to be completely open, allowing users to customise the experience of using the platform. The operating system also doesn't come with Google's built-in services, which are required in standard Google-provided Android builds.

Google's Android is technically open-source, meaning the community has access to code. However, Google still keeps much of its operating system closed to hardware makers, requiring companies like Samsung, HTC, and others to add a skin to the operating system to make it look and feel different than competing products running the same version of Android.

Cyanogen, meanwhile, provides all source code to hardware makers and developers, allowing them to create fully customised Android experiences.

Still, Cyanogen isn't too much of a concern for Google at this point, commentators say. The company's operating system is still a long way from catching Google, due mainly to a relatively small number of hardware vendors supporting the platform. According to the company, the cash used in the investment round will be used to build out its staff and accelerate its operating system's development. That acceleration could help it bring the software to more hardware vendors and thus, more devices.

"We're excited to have the backing of an amazingly diverse group of strategic investors who are supporting us in building a truly open Android," Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster said in a statement.

Cyanogen declined to provide additional comment on the funding round.