China-based smartphone service provider Tink Labs has obtained $125m in a funding round from investors including FIH Mobile, a unit of contract manufacturing company Foxconn, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The round also included investment firm Sinovation Ventures, backed by Foxconn, and angel investor Cai Wensheng. Tink Labs hinted that the deal valued the company at more than $500m.
Founded in 2012, Tink Labs provides mobile phones to hotel chains such as Starwood and AccorHotels to be placed in rooms. The service, dubbed Handy, is free of charge to guests, who can use it to place calls, send messages, browse the internet or access the hotel’s offerings, such as room service.
The phones are currently produced by Foxconn, though Tink Labs plans on introducing new devices next year that it has designed itself. The company will also offer hotels bespoke, branded devices from April 2017.
Additionally, Tink Labs will use the cash to treble its staff from a current 150 people and further increase its international footprint through its existing seven offices across the world.
The company has now raised more than $170m, with FIH Mobile previously supplying $13m in capital in November 2015. In 2014, smartphone manufacturer TCL Communication Technology made a strategic investment of undisclosed size in Tink Labs.