Smartphone Co HTech plans to raise $100 million to diversify operations

HTech, the newly formed smartphone company which has a licence to sell Honor-branded handsets in India, is looking to raise about $100 million from investors to diversify into manufacturing, co-create India-specific products and improve customer experience, a top executive said.”We’ve already ploughed in $10 million into the business and are now looking to raise another $100 million, of which $20 million will be raised in the next six months,” Madhav Sheth, chief executive officer of HTech, told ET. The smartphone player will be looking to dilute equity in the company – in which Sheth is now a majority shareholder – to raise the funds. “When you are doing something for the first time, having an equity partner will ensure the scale of growth is much faster,” the executive said.

Since inception in August 2023, HTech has launched two handsets across the mid-premium and budget segments, and is looking to launch six more by the end of 2024, targeting the fast-growing premium segment which contributes 20% in volume terms to the smartphone market, according to Counterpoint Research.

“We are looking to launch six mid-range and premium products, out of which some will be imported, and may be three or four could be locally manufactured,” Sheth said, adding that by the end of 2025, the company plans to sell at least 5 million units of locally made Honor phones in India.

HTech is in talks with electronics manufacturing services partners to get started on manufacturing Honor devices in India from the third quarter (Q3) of the 2024. “CBUs (completely boxed-units) are not able to survive in India anyways due to high duties, but to test the waters, we will continue to import a few units to see if they match the Indian consumer’s expectations,” said Sheth.

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