KOLKATA: Sachin Tendulkar has become a shareholder and brand ambassador of domestic original equipment manufacturer Smartron, the cricketer said in a statement on Tuesday.The company is set to launch a slew of smart devices and Internet of Things (IoT) products for consumer and enterprise markets in the first quarter of 2016-17. Tendulkar in the release said he being always fascinated by technology and wanted to support brands that are designed and engineered in India by local entrepreneurs and engineers which can ably compete in the global market.Smartron is headed by founder chairman Mahesh Lingareddy who is also the co-founder and CEO of Soft Machines Inc, a United Statesbased semiconductor company with operations in the US, India and Russia.It has research and development centres in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Smartron is riding on the back of the IoT wave by innovating in the areas of smart, sensor, robotics, artificial intelligence, cloud and big data technologies to bring next generation smart devices, services and care, targeting consumer, enterprise, industrial and infrastructure markets.The company is funded by investors from the US, India and West Asia, among others.