BlueStacks Gets $14 Million Funding from AMD, Citrix, Others

Remember BlueStacks, the company behind the Android-emulation software for Windows-based computers? BlueStacks has just completed a strategic investment round, including AMD and Citrix as key players in building BlueStacks’ business. Development and funding details follow …

BlueStacks announced it has brought in $14 million from AMD and Citrix, as well as unnamed “other investors.” Now that the financial future for BlueStacks is a bit more rosy, the company plans to invest that capital into “accelerate[d] product development and support its fast-growing community of users.” BlueStacks boasts “more than 100 countries” have downloaded the player, but sadly there are no actual download numbers. Hmm …

According to BlueStacks, its full-screen Android scaling for even the “largest” desktops show no resolution degradation, which is its “secret sauce.” Couple that with a BlueStacks App Player beta coming in winter 2011, and BlueStacks is feeling awfully confident about its development future and software adoption. I’ll be holding BlueStacks to that.

Interestingly, BlueStacks said it’s on track to release a “pro” version of the AppPlayer, which will support more involved games and apps such as Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja, which are heavily reliant on touch-screen elements. AMD calls this technology “game-changing,” noting the software works well on top of AMD’s APU chips, which eventually will be inside consumer tablets and other small, embedded devices.

Andy Cohen, vice president, Strategic Development and Investments at Citrix said:

I still hold firm the belief that BlueStacks’ best chance to proliferate is to find a way to live inside Windows 8 Metro, making it more accessible for Android developers to reach a wider marketplace almost natively. Whether enterprises find it useful really remains to be seen. In six months’ time, I think we’ll have a better focus on how successful BlueStacks can become.