French upstart Purple Labs on Tuesday gave Linux nerds everywhere reason to spit up their Mountain Dews and stop arguing on message boards.

That’s because Chambéry, France-based Purple Labs hauled in a $14.5 million first round investment to fund its distribution of embedded Linux for mobile phones.

“Not a bad day,” said Jean-Marie Andre, chief operating officer of Purple Labs. “It’s only dollars—I’m sorry, I wish it were Euros,” he quipped.

Purple Labs claims its status as one of the first companies to ship a Linux mobile phone with approval from European network operators gives it a leg up on rivals.

Before the investment, Purple Labs had focused on designing Linux around hardware and software. But the funding round will now focus the company solely on the distribution of Linux software.

The company plans to target its Linux software for distribution to lower-end feature phones—the “Motorolas of the world”—to reach the widest possible market.

“We’re hoping this next round of funding helps give us the headwinds to develop Linux for that range of devices,” Mr. Andre said.

The investment comes from Sofinnova Partners, which led the round, and investors Earlybird and Partners Group.

Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Redwood City, California-based mobile open-source startup Funambol, said the funding round is a strong vote of confidence in the open-source movement for mobile.

“I think it shows how important mobile Linux is becoming and that it’s getting traction,” Mr. Capobianco said. “It’s a very good size investment.”