CyanogenMod, the developers behind one of the most popular aftermarket Android ROMS, announced Thursday that they had successfully raised an additional $23 million in funding.

The new funding comes courtesy of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and is intended to launch the company out of the aftermarket and into the mainstream as its own brand.

"Today, another door has opened up," wrote the CyanogenMod team on the company's blog. "This new influx of capital will primarily be used to grow our engineering team as well as our UX, design, and product teams so that we can continue to build the next generation of mobile experience."

It was only three months ago that the Cyanogen revealed it had secured $7 million in investments. Since then, the team has been working hard on propelling the CyanogenMod out of Android's shadow and into its own mobile ecosystem. If all goes well, Cyanogen hopes to soon be a part of more than just mobile devices — cars and televisions are on the company's hit list as well.

At the moment, Cyanogen is home to 22 employees, although the new influx of cash has CEO Kirk McMaster stating he wishes to add 30 to 50 more employees in the coming months.

"We intend to hit the mass market in late 2014 or early 2015 with a new brand, complete focus on the mass market and a new design language," says McMaster in an Engadget article. "We'll bring to the market some new signature experiences that differentiate Cyanogen and any other brands we create."

The CyanogenMod is not exactly a standalone product from Google's Android. Thanks to the open source nature of Android, aftermarket developers such as Cyanogen can tinker with the original source code and release an operating system with different parameters. Users will find more customization options, and can download updates in a timely manner straight from Cyanogen without waiting for new firmwares to travel through the maze of red tape that affects larger companies — Google included. One example is the recent Galaxy Nexus debacle. Despite having the specs to run Android 4.4 KitKat, Google stated it would not update the device, but luckily, Cyanogen released its own Android 4.4 KitKat ROM for the handset, extending the shelf life of the Galaxy Nexus.

The company also recently released an app designed to make installing the CyanogenMod easier that was promptly pulled from the Google Play due to legalities. Interested parties can still use the CyanogenMod Installer straight from the company's website, but the experience has elicited one of the company's main concerns: if it wants to deliver the experience it hopes to, it will have to do it outside of Google's shadow, and that's hopefully what the $23 million will help achieve.