Asia’s favorite brand and largest cellphone maker in the world – Nokia announced that the company will commit an additional US$150 million for venture investment purposes. The cash infusion raises the amount under management of Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), Nokia’s private equity and venture capital arm, to US$250 million.
The focus will be on funding emerging opportunities in the twin powerhouses of India and China, targeting companies with innovative and synergistic mobile applications. Nokia commitments to venture funding activities to date exceed US$900 million. NGP aims to invest in 8 to 10 new firms each year and will be opening new offices in China and India, in addition to supplementing investment activities in US and Europe.
In four short years, Nokia has leapfrogged from a distant 71st ranking (2005) in Brand Equity’s annual survey to recently being lauded as India’s Most Trusted Brand in June this year.
The Finnish handset maker was ranked #9 on the BrandZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands annual global study by advertising research consultant Millward Brown.
Nokia was also recognized as Asia’s top brand, according to a survey by global research firm Synovate – Asia’s Top 1000 Brands, drawing on responses from 9 markets comprising of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Indonesia.
Asia’s Top 1000 Brands, 2007 (Source: Synovate)
Rank Brand
- Nokia
- Sony
- Colgate
- Coca-Cola
- Panasonic
- Honda
- 7-Eleven
- Samsung
- Nestlé
- Adidas
