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ResponseLogix, Inc. announced today the close of an $8 million Series A round of financing, led by GRP Partners and Shasta Ventures with support from A. H. Belo Corporation and the Belo Corp.
Geodesic Techniques, a Banglore-based innovative design and civil engineering company, has raised $11 million from venture capital firms Mayfield Fund and SVB India Capital Partners, a venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank.
The company claims to have expertise in diverse construction techniques such as space frames, domes, pre-engineered buildings, steel buildings, glass structures, tensile structures, lightweight Structures and pre-fabricated buildings.
The funds will be used for setting up a steel fabrication unit in Bidar and for other working capital requirements. Geodesic’s design and construction projects include factories, offices, stadiums, auditoriums, hotels, temples and diverse utility outlets.
Some of the company’s projects are like Mumbai and Delhi International Airports. It current clients include Indian Oil Corporation, Banglore Development Authority, ING Vysya Bank, SAP Labs and Unilever.
This will be Mayfield’s sixth investment in India, the most recent being Genesis Colors, a Delhi-based fashion design house. It has also invested in mobile payment company PayMate India Pvt. Ltd. It other investments include Tejas Networks, Bharat Matrimony and Servomax. Mayfield had also invested in early-stage technology fund Seedfund. Mayfield Fund is also reported to be raising $150 million for its first India dedicated fund.
SVB India Capital Partners Fund is a $54 million equity fund that is focused on Indian companies and co-invests across industries and stages with top-tier venture capital firms. This is the fifth co-investment of SVB in India. Only today, SVB announced its investment in iYogi, a Gurgaon-based remote technical support provider. The firm had co-invested with Mayfield fund in Genesis Colors. It had earlier invested in TutorVista (along with Sequoia) and One97 Communications (along with SAIF Partners).
Silicon Valley Bank is also planning to get into venture lending in India, which is going to be a new concept in Indian venture capital business.
iYogi, a Gurgaon-based remote technical support provider, has raised $9.5 million in Series B financing from SAP Ventures, a division of SAP AG, Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners, a venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank.
SAP Ventures joins the existing set of investors Canaan partners and SVB India Capital Partners which earlier invested $3.1 million as series A financing in the computer support start-up. iYogi will use the funds to fuel its expansion into 12 new regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and to increase its delivery of new services including PC recovery, anti-virus/spyware, data back-up and PC optimisation.
In a press note issued from the company, Uday Challu, CEO of iYogi said that their focus on the customer experience has helped them achieve a 93 percent satisfaction rate across more than 50,000 customers.
iYogi provides live computer support (24/7) on the phone and via remote access for home and small businesses. The company’s technical support executives, sitting in their office in Gurgaon, near Delhi, will try to solve the computer maintenance problems of homes and small offices in India and globally for a fee. They charge $119.99 for an annual subscription or unlimited incidents. The company offers its customers an unlimited, annual service subscription for per desktop that includes support for a wide range of technologies, including PC hardware Microsoft Windows operating system operating systems, software applications, peripherals and multifunctional devices.
The Series B financing means this model is working.
Educomp Solutions Ltd has picked up a 76 per cent stake in Bangalore-based A-Plus Education Solutions Pvt Ltd, a company that aims to make college students workplace ready. Educomp will invest Rs 10.75 crore or $2.5 million in the company over the next two years for the stake.
A-Plus Education operates under the brand name of Purple Leap and focuses on the area of improving the employability of college graduates. It will focus on preparing students currently studying in over 15,000 colleges in the country workplace ready. The company was founded in 2005 by Amit Bansal, Hemant Somani, Vinay Nijhawan and Chandrasekhar Shetty, all graduates of XLRI and IIM Bangalore.
In its communiqué to the stock exchange, Educomp said that it will leverage its very large customer base of 5 million students in India, which is going upto 10 million by FY09-10, who need guidance.
Meanwhile, Educomp has taken over 18 vocational training Institutes of the Govt. of India as well as 12 skill development centres from the Govt. of Gujarat. Educomp also said that it will work directly with domain experts in retail, management, and other aligned disciplines to get best practices to such institutions.
Education - from content development to delivery to classroom courses - is considered a hot opportunity, and many venture capital firms (liek SAIF Partners) as well as companies like Info Edge Ltd are looking at this sector in a big way.
Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of chipmaker Intel Corp, has announced that it would invest $17 million into three Indian companies - which includes travel portal Yatra.com, events-oriented social networking portal BuzzInTown.com, and Emnet Samsara Media Pvt. Ltd., an out-of-home advertising firm focusing on the Indian public transportation market. How much has gone into each company is not not known yet.
Yatra.com CEO and founder Dhruv Shringi told VC Circle that this is the third round of investment in the company. He, however, declined to reveal the quantum of the investment. The first two rounds of investments were done by Norwest Venture Partners, Reliance Technology Ventures and TV18 Group.
In the case of BuzzInTown, a community oriented site which helps users discover local events in major Indian cities, this could be Series A.
Emnet Samsara Media Pvt. Ltd, an OOH media company targeted at public transportation company, joins a list of OOH media companies such as Laqshya, LiveMedia, and DSN that got funded by venture capital firms.
The economic fallout of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s victory in the recent trust vote is positive for the economic reforms agenda. Although one cannot expect big ticket reforms since the elections are round the corner, it’s likely some of the policy measures (which will not antagonise voters in a big way) may see the light of day. Especially now that the anti-reformist Communist Parties are off UPA’s back. VC Circle takes a look at the important policy liberalisation measures that could be taken up by the government in the coming months.
Banking - Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill is expected to be introduced in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. This bill will allow foreign investors to have voting rights equal to the stake they hold rather than being restricted at 10 per cent. On hope of reforms Bombay Stock Exchange’s Bankex index rose by 9.9 per cent outperforming by nearly double the mark the benchmark Sensex’ gain of 5.9 per cent. To start with, the cabinet has today approved the merger of State Bank of India (SBI) with its associate State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS).
Insurance - Insurance Bill will propose to increase the FDI limit in the sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent. A number of insurance companies have foreign partners in their joint ventures, who want to raise their stake in order to bring in more funds and thus expand operations.
Pension - Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) bill, which proposes 26 per cent FDI in companies involved in pension fund management. Passing of this legislation should be easy as it has already been vetted by a parliamentary committee.
Forward Markets - Forward Contract (Regulation) Amendment Bill aims to streamline the forward markets and empower commodities market regulator Forward Markets Commission.
Expected PSU IPOs - According to an Edelweiss IPO review, about 75 closely-held government companies and banks have evinced interest in diluting their equity and going public.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - The much awaited mother of all IPOs of India’s largest telco may go ahead. The size of the IPO is expected to be $10 billion, with BSNL diluting 10 per cent stake.
National Hydro Electric Power Corporation - NHPC accounts for 3.7 per cent of country power generation and is planning to raise Rs 1,600 crore, divesting 10 per cent stake for further expansion.
Oil India Ltd - Government plans to divest 10 per cent in a pre-IPO placement to the three oil marketing companies - Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Then in the IPO, government plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore liquidating a further 10 per cent
Damodar Valley Corporation - Government has already commissioned KPMG to work out the modalities for DVC going public. It may also look to list others such as Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation.
Railways IPOs - The railways is planning IPOs of its profit making subsidiaries. Through listing of Ircon, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and RailTel railways is expected to raise Rs 1500 crore. The cabinet had already given the nod for IPO of Rites, whose net worth is more than Rs 500 crore.
Among other public offerings which can also be expected are those of Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. Ltd (GSPC) in December this year, liquidating 20 per cent equity. Coal India Ltd, which is awaiting navratna status, can also come out with an IPO raing Rs 4,000-4,500 crore.
Divestment - The government may divest 5-10 per cent stake in a number of public sector undertakings. The government may look at selling stake in mini-ratnas such as MMTC Ltd, State Trading Corporation (STC), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and Bharat Electronics (BEL). This list may also include Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL), Cotton Corporation (CCI), ITPO, RINL, Pawan Hans Helicopters, Telecommunications Consultants (India) and Indian Railway Fund Corporation. Some of these which are already listed, the government may give a follow-on public offers (FPOs).
These stake sales could help meet government the increased wages under the Sixth Pay Commission. They would also help the government generate funds for the planned waiver of Rs 60,000 crore worth of farm loans announced in the Budget this year.
There could also be a direct fallout of Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. It is estimated that India’s civil nuclear energy sector will need at least $100 billion worth of investment during the next 20 years. U.S. companies hope to capture as large of a share of that investment as possible. Indian Companies like Larsen & Turbo Ltd can also directly benefit from this agreement as it supplies material for construction of Nuclear Power Plant.
According to a study by leading Delhi-based economic think tank ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations), India ranks way below on an index of financial inclusion, indicating that there are opportunities for innovative business models to bring the financially excluded population to the system. Financial inclusion implies the ease of access, availability and usage of the formal financial system for all members of an economy.
ICRIER’s first of its kind Index of Financial Inclusion (see the working paper) ranks India at 29 in a list of 55 countries based on the country’s performance in banking penetration, availability of the banking services, and the usage of the banking system. India’s ranking goes down to 50 (out of 100 countries) if one removes the banking penetration as one of the determinants from the Index. This shows that even though there is a higher banking penetration, there are inefficiencies in making these services available to the financially excluded population.
This is the first time an index of financial inclusion has been computed for India. ICRIER’s paper computes IFI values for 55 countries using the three dimensions (banking penetration, availability and usage of banking services) and also using two dimensions (banking availability and usage) for 100 countries. For lack of data, the computation has been done on the basis of numbers availabele for year 2004.
Based on 3-dimensional index, Spain ranks the highest, followed by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Malta. These are the only five countries which belong to the high IFI group with IFI values of 0.5 or more. In one of the interesting observations in the report, most of the countries with high and medium IFI values are OECD countries.
Among the 55 countries, India ranks 31st with an IFI value of 0.155. Madagascar ranks the lowest, 55th, with IFI value 0.011. India has been ranked poorly, even below African countries like Kenya and Moracco. In the group of 100 countries for which a 2-dimensional IFI has been computed, nine OECD countries - Spain, Canada, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark - led the pack.
FI in India
Financial Inclusion in India can be thought of in two ways. One is exclusion from the payments system - i.e. not having access to a bank account. The second type of exclusion is from formal credit markets, requiring the excluded to approach informal and exploitative markets.
According to the Reserve Bank of India, businesses developed around FI have a huge potential as FI imparts formal identity, provides access to the payments system and to savings safety net like deposit insurance. Hence FI is considered to be critical for achieving inclusive growth; which itself is required for ensuring overall sustainable overall growth in the country.
According to the Economic Survey 2007-08, a large number of people especially in rural areas do not have bank accounts. Banks have been encouraged to make available ” no-frills” bank accounts with “nil” or very low minimum balances making such accounts accessible to public at large.
Investor Interest
Financial inclusion can no longer be treated just as an outreach or social development programme. Today, it can spawn innovative business models both in the rural and urban settings and that can attract investors’ interest. One of the startups targeting financial inclusion space is Eko, which aims to extend banking facilities in untapped / unbanked areas through the use of existing branch network and new technology in combination with outsourcing.
Then there are micro finance institutions and self help groups that claim to improve financial inclusion for small and micro units. Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has funded two two microfinance institutions in Gujarat - MAS Financial Services and Vardan Trust. The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), Omidyar Network, and Google.org hosts a ‘Small to Medium Enterprise Investment Company’ with an initial corpus of $17 million targeted at “Missing Middle” between microfinance and commercial capital markets in India. Hyderabad-based SKS Microfinance has attracted investors like Vinod Khosla, Sequoia Capital India, SIDBI and Unitus, among others.
From the gooddata press release: CAMBRIDGE, MA July 23, 2008 Good Data Corporation, an emerging provider of on-demand collaborative business intelligence solutions, today announced the closing of a seed round ...
Bahrain-based TAIB Bank, through its real estate investment arm Acacia Real Estate, has picked up a 26 per cent stake in Anant Raj Projects for Rs 216 crore ($50.44 million). Anant Raj Projects is the subsidiary of New Delhi-based Anant Raj Industries (ARIL), and this deal puts the valuation of the subsidiary at Rs 831 crore ($194 million), reports Economic Times. The funds raised from the transaction will be used for development of 600,000 sqft of retail space which is expected to be operational by first half of 2009. The advisors on the transaction were DTZ India, the Indian subsidiary of DTZ Holdings, and International Property Consultant. Anant Raj is involved in the ceramic tile making business.
Earlier this year TAIB Bank had picked up 49 per cent stake in Logix TechnoPark , a mid-sized IT park in Noida, for $69 million. It was also one of the lead investors in IL&FS’ Leverage India Fund, in which it contributed around $70 million in the $155 million fund.
ARIL is active in the National Capital Region and claims to have of the largest land banks in the region. It is involved in the process of building an array of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), IT Parks, Hotels, Commercial Complexes, Malls and Residential / Service Apartment. ARIL had recently formed a joint venture with Monsoon Capital, an India-focused hedge fund, for a IT park project in Haryana. The fund was planning to pick up 49.9 per cent for $43 million. Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) also formed two joint ventures with Anant Raj for hospitality and IT parks last year. ARIL had last year raked in $167 million by selling 13.5 per cent stake to GIC, George Soros’s hedge fund Quantum and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. It had also diluted a 7 per cent stake to Lehman Brothers, ABN Amro and HSBC Investments for $66 million in 2006.
A lot of real estate companies are now turning private equity players to raise funds as lending rates are becoming higher. JPMorgan Chase & Co is picking up 33 per cent stake in a real estate special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Alok Infrastructure for Rs 150 crore. Yatra Capital invested $7 million for a 40 per cent stake in Jalan Intercontinental Hotels Pvt Ltd, a company that is building a 200-room business hotel in Kolkata. Unitech has also raised a $300 million fund from international markets to invest in its various real estate projects. JP Morgan Chase has also picked up 4 per cent stake in Delhi-based BPTP developers for Rs 250 crore.
Founder of the country’s first low cost carrier, Capt G R Gopinath, is planning to give a jumpstart to his cargo business, Deccan Cargo, with an acquisition. Gopinath is in talks to acquire Bangalore-headquartered cargo company Crescent Air Cargo, which is owned by Congress MLA and mining baron Santosh Lad, reports Times of India. The report added that the deal may be valued at Rs 50 crore and this will be a strategic acquisition for Deccan Cargo, as it would be getting the infrastructure and airport permits of Crescent Air. This can also turn out to be a customer acquisition for Gopinath as the Crescent has tie-ups with two large retail chains for movement of fruits, vegetables and other perishable goods.
Crescent Air Cargo is based out of Chennai Airport, and its fleet comprises of Fokker F-50 freighter aircraft who have capacity of 7 tonnes. The company also operates in SAARC countries such as Sri Lanka and Maldives. Crescent was formed in 2000 and was registered as a private limited company in 2002. It was set up by Sharjah-based Bukhatir Group, who are the promoters of Ten Sports, and was headquartered in Chennai. Last year, Santosh Lad had bought over the operations from the Bukhatir.
Gopinath is planning to raise $50 million in from private equity for his cargo venture, for which he has appointed investment banking firm Edelweiss Capital to seek investors. Deccan Cargo will provide complete logistics solutions, including ground logistic services such as using roads and railways. The company has selected Nagpur as its cargo hub and will be spending $100 million to set up this facility. Gopinath has just signed an MoU with the Maharashtra Airport Development Company to set up a 50 acre warehousing facility at the B R Ambedkar Airport in the city. Jude Fonseka who has had 21-years of experience in FedEx has been appointed CEO of Deccan Cargo and the company has hired 60 people. It is also investing $25 million to set up a state-of the art integrated IT system, which will include online “track and trace” facilities and help company cut operational costs.
There have also been several new entrants in the field which include New Delhi-based Aryan Cargo Express Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad-based Flyington Freighters Ltd, Mumbai-based Avicore Aviation Pvt. Ltd and Bangalore-based Quikjet Cargo. Also major Indian airline operators such as Kingfisher Airways and Jet Airways Ltd are also planning their foray into cargo business.
Here is a listing of startups who were present at Proto, a startup event that was held at IIT Delhi last week. We also bring you a quick reaction of Rahul Khanna, Director, Clearstone Venture Partners, who was present at the event. (Disclaimer: Khanna’s opinion is not based on any detailed evaluation of the business plan but just his quick reaction to the 5-minute presentation made by the companies). Read on.
Company - Muziboo
Product - Muziboo (www.Muziboo.com)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - Prateek Dayal
What They Do - Muziboo is a website offering feedback to amateurs and professional musicians. You can upload your music (MP3 files) and get comments from peers. You can also find band members and seek help from other members at Muziboo.
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Seems like too much of a niche play for the Indian market.”
Company - Datatbyte Equipment Private Limited
Product - Lipikaar (www.lipikaar.com)
Incorporated Year - 1981
Founder/CEO - Jugal Gupta
What They Do - Indic language expression for online and desktop users. The patented product allows a simplified typing method for both monolingual and bilingual users. Number of dialects suported are 2,000.
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Interesting technology, but needs a compelling application to drive adoption.”
Company - Lifeblob
Product - Lifeblob (www.lifeblob.com)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - Pranav Bhasin
What They Do - Provides you way to organize your life. Its a blogging, picture and video sharing engine where all your posts are arranged as a timeline
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Compelling service that introduces a new dimension to navigating shared experiences”
Company - Ferox Foods Pvt. Ltd
Product - Makhana Flakes and Popcorns
Incorporated Year - 2008
Founder/CEO - Bhism Narayan Singh
What They Do - A food processing company plans to launch Makhana flakes and popcorns as a quality breakfast cereal in the next six months.
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Significant challenge to drive consumer adoption without support from a major FMCG company.”
Company - AKVENTURE Info Pvt. Ltd
Product - Lootstreet (www.lootstreet.com )
Incorporated Year - 2008
Founder/CEO - Kaushik Mukherjee, Arun Balakrishnan
What They Do - An online e-commerce company founded by IIMA grads, LootStreet offers a virtual marketplace for buyers and sellers to come together.
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Not sure if this scales given that the service is based on real time interaction between merchants and prospects.”
Company - Storrz.com- JustOnDemand Technologies
Product - Storrz ( www.storzz.com)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - Chandan Maruthi
What They Do - An online retailing store that enables payment through credit card. The point being addressed by the startup is a place for merchants to quickly reach customers
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Interesting aggregation model for small/emerging brands with no inventory risk for the platform.”
Company - Tiriyo Technologies Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Product - Recruiter Pilot (www.tiriyo.com)
Incorporated Year - 2006
Founder/CEO - Dinesh Neralla
What They Do - Human resources management company which has launched its product to help in candidate sourcing, resume extraction and resume searching
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Compelling product, but revenue model and scaling are unclear.”
Company - The Hiring Tool
Product - Hiring Tool (www.thehiringtool.com)
Incorporated Year - 2008
Founder/CEO - Nupur Panjabi
What They Do - A yet to be launched product targeted at connecting employers directly with recruitment agencies, placement consultants etc for their hiring needs
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “B to B play in the recruiting space, but lacked some core differentiation.”
Company - NextBit Computing Pvt. Ltd.
Product - gCOSign (www.gcosign.com)
Incorporated Year - 2006
Founder/CEO - Vishal Borker
What They Do - An intelligence driven out of home media company targeted at high end retailers and shopping malls. They have a centrally controlled server which enables them to control hardware and thus save costs.
Rahul Khanna’s Take - “Too much of a niche play. Product assumes an always-on broadband connection at display site which is often not the case.”
Company - Four Faction
Product - Apnabill (www.apnabill.com)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - S.K. Jain
What They Do - An online utility bill payment and prepaid mobile recharge platform. The company has tied up with several mobile aggregators.
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “No clear revenue model.”
Company - Eko India Financial Services Pvt Ltd
Product - SimpliBank (www.eko.co.in)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - Abhishek Sinha
What They Do - A microfinance company which uses mobiles for banking solution. The co has a partnership with Centurion Bank of Punjab and targets low income people
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Solves a real problem of financial inclusion. Scaling and regulatory challenges need to be addressed.”
Company - Blink Media Pvt Ltd
Product - Intelligent Shopping Cart (www.blinkmagic.com)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - Devang Raiyani, Hemang Shah, Sawan Rupar
What They Do - Interactive shopping cart accessory for retail outlets which advertises seconds before purchase
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Fantastic demo. Need to understand underlying capabilities of platform to judge scalability of product.”
Company - Picporta
Product - Picporta (www.picporta.com)
Incorporated Year - 2006
Founder/CEO - Pulkit Gaur
What They Do - Image search site based on content which lets you upload pictures, edit images and batch processing.
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Nice demo, but not sure how its different from some other players in the US like Riya”
Company - MindHive Labs Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Product - LordsOfOdds (www.lordsofodds.com)
Incorporated Year - 2007
Founder/CEO - Hariharan Krishnamoorthy
What They Do - It is a virtual betting and fantasy gaming portal. The portal organises betting on various things such as politics sports etc
Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Exciting service. May be a bit complicated for the casual gamer.”
Company - Crederity Inc
Product - Crederity Card, Crederity Trust (www.crederity.com)
Incorporated Year - 2006
Founder/CEO - Rakesh Antala
What They Do - provides certification against ID and resume fraud. The company has developed proprietary fact verification technologies enabling people to verify identity and credentials including background, education, and employment history.
(Rahul Khanna misssed this presentation)
Company - Soliton Technologies
Product - Spot-It (www.soliton.com/products.htm)
Incorporated Year - 2004
Founder/CEO - Dr. Ganesh Devaraj
What They Do - High cost and difficulty usability of existing vision systems. The company makes hi-tech cameras that are used by clients such as GE, IBM, Ford among others.
(Rahul Khanna missed this presentation)
Online game company Zynga raised $29 million in venture funding. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Bing Gordon, who helped start game maker Electronic Arts , joins the board at Zynga as part of the ...
New Delhi, July 23: The US-based legal outsourcing firm UnitedLex, which is planning a major expansion in India, announced Wednesday that it will raise $6 million from global venture capital majors Canaan ...
Verimatrix, setting the standard in content security technologies that enhance the value of pay-TV networks, today announced its Series C round of new funding led by Goldman Sachs.
Funny or Die, the Will Ferrell-fronted online humor hub, has suffered a death in the family.
Yatra Capital Ltd, the Euronext listed real estate company, has invested $7 million for a 40 per cent stake in Jalan Intercontinental Hotels Pvt Ltd, a company that is building a 200-room business hotel in Kolkata. The hotel will be managed by Indian Hotel Ltd under the Taj Gateway brand.
The hotel will be built on a 1.9 acre plot located at the junction of Rashbehari Connector and EM Bypass in Kolkata. EM Bypass is the main arterial road between old and new Kolkata, connecting Kolkata Airport and eastern parts of the city. The hotel will primarily cater to the needs of IT/ITES companies located in and around the IT parks and SEZs coming up in the area.
At present, there are close to 1,500 rooms in the premium category in Kolkata.
Occupancy levels have increased at an average rate of 15-18 per cent over the last few years with average annual occupancy levels hovering around 80 per cent, which is expected to remain at the same level in the medium term. Almost 60-70 per cent of guests in the premium category hotels are business travelers.
London-basedYatra Capital is listed on the Euronext in Amsterdam. It raised Euro 100 million ($159 million) in 2006 and Euro 120 million ($191 million) in 2007. Out of this capital, the company has so far invested Euro 174 million, which is 78 per cent of the corpus raised. Yatra invests in India through the advice it receives from the investment committee of its wholly owned subsidiary K2, and Saffron Capital Advisors Limited (SCAL).
This will be Yatra Capital’s 14th investment in the country, which includes two other investments in the hospitality sector. Yatra had invested Rs 63.44 crore for a 30 per cent stake in another firm Platinum Hospitality Services which will develop a hotel in Bangalore at an estimated cost of Rs 402.62 crore. Yatra Capital had also acquired one of the first India-focused property fund Eredene Capital Mauritius for Rs 99.39 crore in 2007.
Ajoy Veer Kapoor, Managing Director, Saffron Asset Advisors Private Ltd, said: “This is Yatra’s third hospitality project and is in line with our commitment to building a strong, diversified portfolio of quality assets. Our investments for Yatra have the potential to deliver across a variety of sectors and locations and we will continue to seek opportunities that will maximise shareholder returns.”
UnitedLex, a legal process outsourcing company, has received $6 million in a Series B round led by Canaan Partners and joined by the existing investor Helion Venture Partners. UnitedLex’s Series A investment was done by Helion in 2007. Alok Mittal, Managing Director, Canaan partners, would join on the board of UnitedLex. Rahul Chandra, Investment Advisory Director, Helion Ventures, already represents the firm on the board.
The company will use the funds to expand the headcount from 250 currently to 1,000 by 2009 and also for the expansion of its global delivery network, besides setting up an e-delivery network. The company is also opening a second delivery center in Gurgaon later this quarter. Besides, UnitedLex will invest $2 million in building LexBase, its technology platform.
The company has a $10 million annual revenue run rate, up from just $4 million at the end of 2007. The company claims that its revenues are growing at by 5 to 10 per cent on a month-on-month basis and it’s expecting $22 million revenues by 2009. A 90 per cent of revenues of UnitedLex come from the U.S. clients.
Earlier, Sequoia Capital India has backed Pangea3, while there are angel backed companies like Mindcrest (Ganesh Natarajan), and JuriMatrix (Jerry Rao).
According to Forrester Inc., the global spending on legal services is in excess of $250 billion with US accounting for two thirds of this market. The emerging consensus amongst the leading industry analysts such as IDC, Forrester and Hildebrandt is that the offshored component of this $250 billion will reach about $3 billion by 2015 with India accounting for two third of the market, i.e. $2 billion. To achieve this growth, CRISIL estimates that the legal process outsourcing industry will have deployed over 66,000 lawyers and related professionals.
Plans Acquisition
Anup Bhasin, Chief Operating Officer, UnitedLex told VC Circle that the opportunity is expanding especially now since there has been a spurt of subprime crisis related lawsuits filed which has led to a many legal firms going either bankrupt or out of business. Bhasin said they would look at acquiring them. “We are evaluating opportunities and exploring a few options as a few law firms especially after the sub prime are available cheap as most of them have gone bankrupt,” says Ajay Agrawal, Chief Solutions Officer, UnitedLex told VCC.
“We are not only a services company but also a technology company. We follow the dual approach of strategy/technology consulting and outsourcing unlike our peers. We stay across the lifecycle of the companies”, added Agrawal.
A venture capital fund upped its investment in video technology firm Agent Video Intelligence Ltd.
After hedge fund Venus Capital announced that it suffered a 22 per cent dip in returns, now Mirae Asset Management, Korea’s largest asset management firm, has liquidated its India fund owing to steep losses. The Korea Times, quoting Zeroin, a fund evaluating body, reported that Mirae has liquidated the “Class-C2″ fund for institutional investors last week, after nine months of operations. The fund was at minus 20 percent at the time of liquidation.
The fund was introduced at the height of bull run in October last year. The fund had its share of excellent returns from the Indian bourses too, as it gained 19 percent on average until early this year. But increasing concerns of higher oil prices, inflation and political turmoil took a toll on it. There are 26 Indian equity funds, according to Zeroin, which have recorded a loss of 39 percent on average since January, higher than the average loss of 21 percent for all overseas funds.
Mirae Asset noted that the public fund was managed like a private fund as institutional investors needed to invest at least 5 billion won if they wished to subscribe to the fund. The assets under management of the fund reached 15 billion won at the beginning, and the company liquidated the fund after subscribers completely redeemed their investment.
The next big thing in venture capital is small investments, according to a panel of Silicon Valley investors who appeared at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference on Tuesday.
Tata Capital and Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank (MHCB) have entered into a strategic alliance for cooperation in a range of business areas. Some of the key areas of cooperation will be Ninja loans, project and infrastructure finance and treasury products. A ninja loan is a type of subprime loan issued to borrowers with no income, no job, (and) no assets. The memorandum of understanding is aimed at fostering business cooperation, enhancing cross-market value creation capabilities, strengthening competitive advantages in addition to aiding each other in gaining a deeper understanding of the Indian and Japanese markets.
This MoU follows the agreement signed in February this year which involved business collaboration between the two companies in areas such as private equity and wealth management. Since then, Tata Capital has firmed up its private equity plans in which it will launch different private equity funds (of $200-300 million each) focusing on different sectors such as technology, communications, healthcare and midcap space. A launch is expected in September this year.
Tata Capital, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, aims to provide services in seven broad areas of business, namely — retail finance, corporate finance, distribution and broking, capital markets, private equity, wealth management and rural finance. Praveen P Kadle, managing director, Tata Capital, said, “Our MoU today will help both the entities co-develop innovative offerings and shared services platforms for the evolving corporate customers. The alliance is a step towards Tata Capital fulfilling its vision of emerging as a holistic provider of financial services.”
MHCB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based $1.44 trillion Mizuho Financial Group.Hidetake Nakamura, managing executive officer of the International Banking Unit of MHCB said, “We are very excited about this opportunity to work with Tata, one of India’s most recognised names, as we jointly attempt to expand the services available to customers. Combining our two firms’ expertise and coverage should prove to be a strong and able seed for our continued growth.”
US financial major JPMorgan Chase & Co is picking up 33 per cent stake in a real estate special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Alok Infrastructure for Rs 150 crore ($35 million). The SPV will develop a real estate project at a prime location in Mumbai as Alok Infra has bought land in several areas of Mumbai in the last one year, reports The Economic Times, quoting sources. The company had also acquired 130 acres at Panvel at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per acre in a 50-50 joint venture. Alok Infra is the wholly owned subsidiary of Mumbai-based Alok Industries, which is into textile and retail. The company had been interested in diluting some equity it owns in its unlisted unit, Alok Infrastructure. The company is planning to raise Rs 600 crore to develop its large landbank and may go in for more funding.
Alok Infra is also developing over 180 acres in its textile SEZ in Silvassa. Alok Infra has also acquired 50 per cent stake in Ashford Infotech, which would develop a million sq ft of space in a Mumbai suburb for Rs 400 crore.
Alok Industries reported a net sales of Rs 2,159 crore and net profit of Rs 200 crore for the fiscal year 2007-08. The company has also recently received an ECB facility of $25 million from Netherlands Development Finance Corporation FMO.
JPMorgan Chase & Co has earmarked $750 million for private equity investments in Asia. Earlier this month JP Morgan Chase had acquired four per cent stake Delhi-based real estate firm Business Park Town Planners’ Limited for Rs 250 crore. It has also invested Rs 60 crore in PVR Pictures Ltd.
NCBR Article Venture funding up 8 percent statewide By Staff July 21, 2008 -- Venture capital funding in Colorado during the second quarter saw an 8 percent increase compared to last year.
Gulf private equity and sovereign funds are increasingly turning global. In a significant deal, General Electric has struck an $8 billion commercial finance joint venture with Mubadala Development Co., a sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, one of the states in United Arab Emirates. The new venture will target Middle East and African markets. Each company will commit $4 billion in equity to the venture.
Besides, Mudabala would also buy into GE. Mudabala said it would become “top ten institutional investors” of GE. It would buy shares of GE from the open market, “as conditions allow.” Mubadala didn’t disclose what stake it would pick up in GE and when it would start investing.
The tie-up envisages investment in commercial financial-services business in the Middle East and worldwide, besides investing in sectors like clean energy, aviation, and corporate learning. GE and Mubadala have also decided to establish a clean-energy-technology center in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi.
GE, on the other hand, had put its consumer finance company in India GE Money on sale. This was later called off since the company could not find buyers at the right price.
The latest JV follows Mubadala’s previous two deals - it paid $1.35 billion for a 7.5 per cent stake in private-equity firm Carlyle Group, and it bought a roughly 8 per cent stake in Advanced Micro Devices Inc., paying some $622 million.
Besides Mudabala, there are other SWFs in UAE such as The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
ContextWeb , the parent company of the ADSDAQ ad exchange , garnered $26 million in Series D funding.
