Avi Networks, which provides software for the delivery of enterprise applications in data centres and the cloud, has raised $60 million in a Series D round of funding led by Cisco Investments.
Cisco Investments is the venture capital arm of networking technology giant Cisco.
The US-headquartered Avi Networks, which also has large operations in Bengaluru and a sales office in Delhi, said in a statement that DAG Ventures, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures had also participated in the round.
Avi Networks was founded in 2012 by Indian-origin entrepreneurs Ranga Rajagopalan and Murali Basavaiah. Both co-founders had previously worked at Cisco.
The firm, which looks to complete enterprises’ digital transformation with its intent-based application services, has thus far raised $115 million including its earlier funding rounds.
“Modern applications are driving a new urgency with which enterprises are automating their networks and application delivery systems,†said Amit Pandey, chief executive of Avi Networks. “This strategic investment from Cisco will help our joint efforts to deliver the elasticity, intelligence, and multi-cloud capabilities.â€
The firm claimed to have achieved a 300% year-on-year growth apart from adding several large firms.
Avi’s flagship Avi Vantage Platform delivers automated application services with a software load balancer, an intelligent web application firewall, and an elastic service mesh for container-based applications.
“Enterprises are deploying modern applications, which need advanced levels of automation to respond to changing demands and performance,†said Murali Basavaiah, co-founder and vice president of engineering at Avi Networks. “The Avi Vantage Platform offers automation, elasticity, and intelligence across all enterprise operations, wherever they need application services.â€
Cisco resells the Avi Vantage Platform and the product is closely integrated with Cisco ACI, Cisco’s intent-based networking and automation solution for the data centre.
“We believe Avi Networks has built a disruptive platform for application services with a software-centric approach, enabling customers to scale network automation and application delivery across both private and public clouds,†said Rob Salvagno, vice-president of corporate development at Cisco.
Cisco Investments
In an earlier interaction with TechCircle, Salvagno had said that investments act as a lens that helps the networking giant to understand market trends of the future technologies.
Cisco has been actively investing over the past decade while sealing 24 acquisitions during the same period.
It has a portfolio of more than 120 companies and has put money into over 40 investment funds. It has invested in funds of two Indian venture capital firms—IDG Ventures India and Stellaris Venture Partners.
In India, Cisco Investments has so far backed 20 companies including customer experience management platform CloudCherry, in-app customer support firm Helpshift and online services marketplace Near.ins.