New Delhi: Indian phone-maker Lava International , on Tuesday, said it that it will raise $90 million (Rs 630 crore) from GEM Global Yield Fund to invest in R&D with the aim of emerging as a handset market leader in the sub-$150 price segment.GEM group will make the investment over the next 36 months for through a 'Share Subscription Facility' which will allow the company to sell American depositary receipts to the US fund house in exchange for drawing down available funds, Lava said in a statement.“The company will use the funds to strengthen its business by funding its research, development and business expansion activities, with the objective of becoming a market leader in the sub-$150 cellular phone segment,” Lava said.Lava’s smartphone assembly plants have been long under-utilised. The combined share of Indian players has slumped to around 3%—from over a combined 40% at their peak mid-2015—in a market swamped by Chinese players such as Xiaomi, Oppo , and Vivo , besides Korea’s Samsung Despite fading presence and tough competitive scenario, Lava has made significant investments to ramp up its research and development.At the peak of Sino-US trade war in August last year, Lava along with Micromax had bagged a Rs 2,500 order for manufacturing sub-$200 devices from US telco major AT&T along with rivals T-Mobile and Sprint.Along with having a strong foothold in the feature phones space, Lava also established its presence in contact manufacturing when it bagged a multi-crore deal from US conglomerate General Electric to manufacture hand-held devices meant specifically for medical use in September last year.Global Emerging Markets is a $3.4 billion alternative investment group that manages a diverse set of investment vehicles focused on emerging markets across the world and have completed 370+ transactions in 70 countries.