HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, announced last week that it has successfully closed $230 million to establish itself as a leading phone manufacturer.
HMD Global, which manufactures Android™ branded Nokia smartphones with premium Nordic design, superior product quality, premium ZEISS imaging experience, and market-leading reliability and security features, says the investment will further fuel it’s strategic vision in four key areas.
Firstly, it will accelerate the company’s mission to make 5G smartphones accessible to consumers across the world, with an emphasis on strong partnerships with US carriers. Secondly, HMD Global will further transition to digital-first offerings as part of a new post-COVID reality. It will also expand its presence in key growth markets, including the recently introduced operations in Brazil, as well as Africa and India. Finally, the investment will help the business strengthen its leading position beyond just hardware and into a holistic mobile service provider.
This year alone, HMD Global launched its international data roaming service, HMD Connect, enhanced its mobile cybersecurity capabilities with the acquisition of assets of Valona Labs, and built dedicated resources on software, security and services with a new research and development Centre of Excellence in Tampere, Finland.
Jean-Francois Baril, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, HMD Global, says: “Our unique business model, based on asset-light global deployment and strong partnerships with the best in the industry, is entering a new level of maturity with the valued support of some of the most influential market-makers in mobile devices. I am extremely proud of our significant achievements to date and also thrilled about the immense opportunity before us to accelerate our journey towards excellence.”
As the only key European smartphone player, HMD Global is increasingly popular with both enterprises and consumers who are looking for a pure, secure, and up-to-date smartphone experience.
Florian Seiche, Chief Executive Officer, HMD Global, says: “Since the very beginning, HMD Global has worked to build strong bonds with our strategic partners. This additional investment further validates our long-term business strategy and is evidence of our collective mission to make modern mobile technology accessible to everyone. Security, reliability and dependability are the cornerstones of our offering, and we will ensure we are using these funds to deliver the best experiences people have come to expect from a Nokia phone. As the only major European smartphone manufacturer, we remain true to our Finnish roots and the hallmarks that our customers trust Nokia phones to be synonymous with. With the support of our heavyweight partners, I am truly excited for the next chapter of Nokia phones.”
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Since the company began its operations in 2016, HMD Global is now active in 91 markets across eight regions and 250,000 retail outlets and has sold over 240 million phones to date.
HMD is set to launch Nokia 5.3 in Ecuador, Tunisia, and South Africa retailing for around $290. The phone packs a 6.55” HD+ Gorilla Glass 3 screen, 64GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot up to 512GB, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor, 4000mAh battery, 13 MP f/1.8 + 2 MP depth sensor + 5 MP ultra-wide (118°) + 2 MP Macro (quad-camera) at the back, 8 MP front camera, and runs on Android 10.
Two weeks ago, HMD Global, appointed Alain Lejeune in the new Global Operations Leadership role. Lejeune brings with him more than 25 years’ experience in telecommunications and is a seasoned global operations leader.
Lejeune joins HMD Global from OneWeb, where he was a special advisor focused on the operations strategy. Alain will be responsible for overseeing all operations for HMD Global and leading engineering and supply chain management efforts for the company. He will report directly to Florian Seiche, Chief Executive Officer at HMD Global.
Prior to OneWeb, Alain worked with TCL Group – joining as part of the company’s acquisition of the mobile phone division of Alcatel. This was one of the first international acquisitions in this sector by a Chinese company. He successfully led the integration, as well as driving the company’s research and development and product creation efforts. Alain was also responsible for managing the acquisition of global licensing rights from Canadian-based BlackBerry Limited by TLC.
Following a successful acquisition, he became President of the BlackBerry Mobile business division created within TCL and re-launched BlackBerry smartphones as a premium professional brand to global markets.
