The third most popular app in India has just scored more funding

Photo credit: Ramesh Lalwani.

Truecaller is a phone directory app based in Sweden that helps its users find and identify numbers worldwide. Additionally, it offers phone screening services and will lend you a hand in making phone calls. Think call screening with some of Skype’s features.

So what’s the big deal?

As any savvy real estate agent will tell you – location, location, location. India loves Truecaller. About a year and a half ago, homegrown competitor Holaa popped up but didn’t make much headway. Truecaller now follows Facebook and Whatsapp on the list of most downloaded apps in India.

So it’s no big surprise that Truecaller has just scored again – Arun Sarin, former global CEO of Vodafone India, has invested in the company. As part of the arrangement, he will also join Truecaller’s advisory board.

The power of simplicity

Photo credit: Pexels.

Truecaller’s user base – over 200 million people globally – speaks for itself, but he recalls being struck by seeing the company’s reach in action. “I noticed that every time a phone rang somebody would stare at their phone for a few seconds before they answer,” he said in a statement. “I got to know it was Truecaller that was empowering the caller ID, and nobody would answer a call before Truecaller showed who it was.”

Mobile startups in particular have been an interest of Arun’s, who served as Vodafone’s CEO for five years, ending in 2008. In July last year, he invested in Ola and became an independent director of the company in the process. Two months later, he made an undisclosed investment in US-based music streaming service Saavn, which offers song selections from Indian artists.

Vodafone isn’t doing too shabby in India either, with an expected giant IPO likely coming next summer.