Venture capital (VC) firm IDG Ventures India has invested $5 mn (Rs 22.15 crore) in Mumbai-based banking software product company Agile Financial Technologies.
The company offers 12 products in areas of banking, insurance, micro-finance and financial inclusion. It also offers IT services support functions for its software products.
Speaking to TOI, T C Meenakshisundaram , MD of IDG, said that the company would use the funds for expansions, building new products and acquisitions . He expects the company to become a $10 million revenue company this year and touch $75 mn in 3-4 years.
The company has a large focus on the Middle East and Africa (MEA) markets. They will now look to expand their markets in India, South East Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe.
The founder of the company , Kalpesh Desai, has previously worked with banking focused IT company 3i Infotech as the COO of its Europe and MEA operations.
The firm does not offer core banking solutions (CBS), but builds products that complement CBS. “We have competition in different segments from different sets of players. However our USP is that we can offer end-to-end platform solutions for functions such as lending management etc,” Desai said. Arun Natarajan, CEO of Venture Intelligence, provider of data on VC deals, said that the competitive landscape with the likes of bigger players like i-flex , Polaris, Infrasoft , 3i Infotech and Nucleus makes it tough for a smaller player to make a breakthrough.
Natarajan added that the only other significant VC investment in the banking software space was again IDG's investment in iCreate, which is into business intelligence and analytics. VCs still prefer an IT services play as the IT product ecosystem is at a nascent stage.
Source: Times of India