€200M invested in the startup of Nokia former employees

Several investors from the telecommunications sector have invested €200M in the launch of a new mobile platform based on technology created by Finnish company Nokia. Nokia itself rejected these technologies, and several former company employees have decided not to dismiss the development and created Jolla startup.

Jolla is engaged in developing Sailfish operating system based on the sources of MeeGo system that Nokia once had rejected in favor of Windows Phone. As they say in the startup, they involved the programmers who designed MeeGo, also some former top managers of Nokia work for the startup. The assembled team believes in the future success of MeeGo and plans not only to produce phones based on it, but also to develop MeeGo software platform.

Third parties in this case may be given access to Jolla technologies to expand the list of programmers using Sailfish. The first smartphone will be shown by Jolla in November, according to the Western press, the launch will be funded both by the founders, and by international investors and partners. It is noteworthy that Jolla is not going to compete with Apple and Google: the startup will position its product as a solution for the markets of developing countries without direct competing with the giants of already developed markets.

According to Jussi Hurmola, Jolla’s CEO, in recent years the telecommunications industry is increasingly drowning in patent wars and many manufacturers have been concerned with searching for alternatives for such platforms as Android or Windows Phone, wanting to keep out of the patent courts. As an alternative Hurmola offers Sailfish and, according to him, for the last month the interest in the development of his young company has increased.



Hurmola invested in the startup €10M of his own savings. According to him, Jolla now is eminently Finnish company, but in 2013 they are going to attract about €50M from investors and to establish an office in China or Hong Kong.

Recall that MeeGo operating system was represented at the Mobile World Congress in February 2010 by Intel and Nokia. The basis of the OS with Linux kernel is Moblin and Maemo components. It was expected that MeeGo will be used in smartphones, laptops, tablet computers, netbooks and other gadgets. Subsequently, however, Nokia has decided to focus on devices with Windows Phone, and Intel has supported the new project Tizen.