Chinese mobile company Cheetah Mobile (CM) has acquired News Republic, a French news app startup for $57 million, reports TechCrunch. The report states that CM plans to let News Republic operate as a standalone app. As of now, News Republic has an Android and an iOS app. Note that News Republic had launched an India edition of its the news app and tech news app Appy Geek, in May last year. At that time, it appointed Radhika Shukla as News Republic’s India Country Director. It is unclear if the company will continue its India operations. News Republic was founded by Gilles Raymond, CEO, in 2008. It currently seems to be hiring for business development directors for content acquisition in APAC, MEA, and LatAm, an operational developer and assistant product manager of applications. The News Republic app is preloaded on devices like Samsung, HTC, Acer, Huawei, Wiko, Archos and Wolder and claims to have 1,650 media partners including Al Jazeera, AP, Bloomberg, CNET, Engadget, FP, HuffPost, Reuters and Guardian. Interestingly, some of CM’s apps also come preloaded on Samsung Galaxy phones, according to TechCrunch. Cheetah Mobile’s ad operations; 40 million users in India: In April this year, CM entered into a strategic partnership with Mumbai-based Ventes Avenues to expand its mobile advertising operations into India. In August 2015, it launched an ad tech platform in India with Flipkart, Uber, Amazon, and Booking.com as its global clients Initially, the Cheetah Ad platform was launched in June 2015, when CM’s mobile apps and media ad network worked together. Then, Cheetah…
