SoftBank backs a mobile utility app made by a Korean expat in India

Mobile utility apps have flooded India over the past couple of years, in tandem with the boom in smartphone usage. These are mostly from Chinese firms like APUS and Cheetah. There’s also the caller ID app Truecaller made in Sweden but hugely popular in India.

Now there’s an app made in India in the mix – True Balance, which today announced series A investment from SoftBank Ventures Korea. The app’s creator is Korean expat Charlie (Cheolwon) Lee, who has made Gurgaon (near Delhi) his home for over a decade. His mobile utility app has notched up 2.5 million downloads since its launch a year and a half back. “True Balance is currently working in seven telecom circles with more than 40 percent MAU (monthly active users),” says Charlie.

Different cities and regions in India have different telecom licensees. True Balance started in the Delhi NCR (national capital region) area and expanded to the Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East), and Uttar Pradesh (West) circles.

See: How Duolingo got 110 million users without spending a dollar on marketing

New monetization opportunities

At the center of the True Balance gang is Charlie (Cheolwon) Lee. Photo credit: True Balance.

The app helps prepaid Android phone users check their account balance with a swipe instead of having to send an SMS to a coded number. It also keeps track of the data pack balance and alerts you in time. And dual SIM users can see both their accounts in one place. A one-touch recharge feature is on the anvil.

But this is only the start. True Balance uses big data to provide real-time information on the best plans and offers for prepaid users to help them cut their expenses, especially on internet usage. The user data on True Balance, in turn, opens up monetization opportunities through targeted marketing, as the Chinese utility apps have done for the likes of APUS.

JP Lee, director of SoftBank Ventures Korea, says it’s when True Balance crossed the two million mark in downloads at the start of this month, with a high level of engagement, that it decided to invest in the app.

“What attracted us to True Balance is that it is purpose-built for centralizing and analyzing your balance log data, enabling it to be the most valuable as a potential mobile wallet for the future,” he adds.

But for now, True Balance is focused on building up its user base rapidly. Charlie expects to hit 10 million downloads by the end of the year. It was ranked No. 1 in the Lifestyle category and sixth across all categories in January on Google Play in India. Now the investment from SoftBank will help it to ramp up both the product and its expansion.