Cyanogen Inc. issued a press release today announcing that they have raised $80 million in Series C funding. The lead participant in the Series C Funding round was Premji Invest, followed by some new entrants such as Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm Incorporated, Telefónica Ventures, Smartfren Telecom, Index Ventures, Access Industries, Rupert Murdoch, Vivi Nevo, and several yet to be announced partners.
It’s been a rocky few months for Cyanogen, the ambitious startup that aimed to build a better version of Android than Google. It has laid off staff, let go of its CEO and parted ways with another co-founder — now it is shutting down its services and nightly software builds on December 31.
Gravis Ludus' Carl Williams writes, "It is no secret that Microsoft are working on various Android apps. They have ported their popular Office 365 over, they have even released Cortana. They have also released an Android launcher for people wanting to get a little more done with their Google device. Now, working with Cyanogen Cortana is included in OS version 12.1.1, don’t worry, you can uninstall her if you wish."
In a surprise development, Google has abandoned its own Java standard libraries for those of Oracle. The move might be the first step in settling an ongoing lawsuit, but the implications for the Android community are profound. And it offers a possible opening for Microsoft.
