International Finance Corporation (IFC) and a fund managed by Global Environment Fund (GEF) are looking to invest $4.5 million in energy efficiency firm Kalki Communication Technologies Pvt Ltd. The deal would also include another $7 million investment for the second and third round of funding for the Bangalore-headquartered company.
GEF is making the investment through its South Asia Clean Energy Fund, L.P. IFC is investing $1.35 million in the first round through quasi-equity or convertible instrument.
Kalki Communication is a technology company providing products, services and solutions which monitor, manage and optimise energy generation and transmission assets for public utilities and industrial clients across the world. Founded in 1998, the company is led by co-founders Prasanth Gopalakrishnan (CEO) and Sushil Cherian (CTO), besides other management professionals including George Punnoose (COO), Sunil Vargis Mathew (president) and Sreeni TS (VP – sales & marketing).
The investment by the World Bank arm and South Asia Clean Energy Fund will be the first round of institutional funding for Kalki. Currently, the entire stake is held by the promoters and the management of the company.
Kalki Communication operates in the IT services and system integration space but also generates revenues from sales of its SYNC and ELTRIX hardware and software product lines. Kalki also sells these products to OEMs who integrate those with their systems to implement solutions for utilities. The company has a product development centre in Kochi, and offices in the UAE and the USA.
Energy efficiency space has attracted a lot of attention from private equity and venture capital firms even though the deal flow has been relatively slow. saw Hyderabad Angels backing Green India Building Systems and Services Pvt Ltd (Green India Building), an energy efficiency products and solutions company. In another recent deal, Nexus Venture Partners and India Innovation Fund (IIF) invested in SEDEMAC Mechatronics, which makes electronic control modules to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. Another deal saw Plexus Capital Ventures making its debut investment by acquiring a minority stake in Pune-based IRIS Energy.