Telecom networking services firm Innovis Telecom Services Pvt Ltd has received an undisclosed sum from Nokia Growth Partners, the company has said in a statement. The proceeds will be used for expansion to various markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
Although the investment amount is not known, Nokia Growth Partners typically invests between $5 million and $15 million in its portfolio companies.
Co-founded by SK Acharya and Kapil Sharma, Innovis helps build wireless and broadband telecom networks in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and quite a few African countries.
SK Acharya has more than 25 years of experience in the telecom industry with organizations like BEL, Nokia Siemens Network and Qualcomm. In the past, Acharya, was a key member of the Asia Pacific leadership team of Nokia Networks and led its country services organisations in Japan, Taiwan and India. Kapil Sharma is an engineering graduate with an MBA from IIM Calcutta, with more than 16 years of experience with organizations like HCL-HP and Nokia Siemens Networks. Both of them are board members of technical training and consulting services company Cognitel.
Innovis provides a plethora of services including network planning, network deployment, project management, network optimisation for voice and data networks, managed services and consultation. Its key clients include Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei, Alcatel Lucent, Airtel, Axis Indonesia, MGear, Andrew Wireless and Viom Networks.
“We see great opportunity for the operational model pioneered in India expanding in other markets. Innovis has domain expertise, and is already offering a range of advanced consulting and advisory services in the South-East Asia and Africa,” said Upal Basu, managing director of Nokia Growth Partners, while commenting on the investment.
“With the Nokia Growth Partners’ investment fuelling our expansion plans, we are targeting markets with high growth potential and strong technology evolution roadmap,” said Kapil Sharma, chief marketing officer of Innovis.
Incorporated in 2004, Nokia Growth Partners is a venture capital arm of Nokia, specialising in mid-to-late growth-stage and fund-of-funds investments. The firm invests in ICT (information and communications technology) companies with focus on the mobile industry and specialisation in areas like network layer and handset components, computing, software applications and the Internet. It also prefers to invest in emerging markets, especially in countries like China and India.
