Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) has invested Rs 20 crore in infrastructure management services (IMS) company Appnomic Systems. Bangalore-based Appnomic Systems, formerly called Vitage Technologies, has operations in India, Middle East and Africa.
Appnomic helps companies in managing information technology (IT) by offering automated technology, intelligent analysis and process methods. Norwest believes that there is a need by corporations for simplification and efficient management of IT at a low cost, and 70-75% of IMS opportunities can be offshored.
The company plans to use these funds to strengthen its existing market presence, expand into the U.S. market and further build out its product and service offerings. "Part of the funds will be used in developing the next version of our product," said D Padmanabhan, MD & CEO of Appnomic. The company also plans to open office in California for business development.
The firm has also developed an application, which is waiting to be patented. Appnomic's applications have been used portals, banks and real estate companies. It currently has around 50-60 clients.
Nasscom has predicted that by 2013 opportunity in remote infrastructure management tech services will be between $13-$15 billion.
Appnomic was founded in 2006, and has now grown to around 390 employees. The company also plans to partner with larger global IT firms to offer its services to their customers in revenue sharing agreements, said Padmanabhan, a former Infosys employee.
Promod Haque, Managing Partner of NVP, will join Appnomic's board of directors. Norwest's current India portfolio includes a community and networking portal Sulekha, outsoucing firm Adventity, travel portal Yatra, and mobile & digital entertainment company Mobile2win. It has also recently hired Sohil Chand from Goldman Sachs to lead its growth investments in India.
"The managed services market is already a mature industry, however the offshoring of nfrastructure management services (IMS) to India is still in its infancy. The market opportunity for IMS in India is predicted to be as large as the application development and maintanence (ADM) sector, and it is regarded as the 'third wave of outsourcing' (after ADM and BPO/KPO)," said Haque in a release.
D Padmanabhan is the MD & CEO of Appnomic Systems, and the company COO is P Rangarajan.
There have been some similar deals. NetMagic Solutions, a remote infrastructure management services firm, raised $20 million from Fidelity International and venture capital firm Nexus India Capital earlier this year. Microland Limited, a company in the IT infrastructure management and technical support services space, raised $11 million from Cargill Ventures, Intel Capital, Trident Capital and JAFCO in 2006.
