Reliance Venture Asset Management Ltd (RVAM), the corporate venture capital arm of the Reliance ADA Group, has invested an undisclosed sum in Gradatim IT Ventures India Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based company providing Business Process Utility (BPU) services to banking and insurance sector.
This is the third investment of the fund since April this year, and 11th in total, said a company statement. Its recent investments include Reverse Logistics Co, a reverse supply chain solutions company, and Tessolve Services, a semiconductor test and product engineering firm.
Though the fund did not disclose the deal size and the quantum of stake it picked up in Gradatim, an Economic Times report suggests that RVAM has invested $7-9 million in this transaction. The company plans to utilise the fund to foray into newer markets such as Africa and East Asia, besides strengthening its product portfolio. Yes Bank was the sole advisor to this transaction.
For Gradatim, the fund raise follows its earlier $3-million Series A round from NEA-IndoUS Ventures (NEA-IUV) in December last year. Gradatim has holding entities in India, Australia and Singapore, and has presence across South East Asia and the Middle East. It currently employs about 70 people.
The company offers technology solutions to microfinance companies, NBFCs, and insurance providers, that are used in managing full product life cycle of the firm's in real time in multiple distribution channels seamlessly.
Harshal J Shah, CEO, RVAM, said, in the statement, “Gradatim, with their breakthrough technology solutions, has been a pioneer in this space and we see immense potential for further growth. The firm is all set to grow exponentially, and we are indeed happy to partner with them.”
C V Prakash, founder & CEO, Gradatim, said, “We view Reliance Ventures as a key partner in our transition into the next phase of growth. We plan to augment our operational capabilities and foray into newer markets such as Africa and East Asia.” The company also plans to strengthen its service offerings to cover the entire spectrum of micro financial services, which includes micro banking, micro insurance, micro payments and micro pensions.
RVAM was launched in 2006. Besides venture capital investments, the firm is also involved in advisory services. Some of its previous investments include Dhama Apparel Innovations, Scalable Display Technologies, Inc and Suvidhaa Infoserve, among others. It plans to invest $25-30 million (about Rs 117-140 crore) in ancillary businesses in the next six months, the report added.
The fund has also entered into a partnership agreement recently with Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES), one of the leading student entrepreneurship organizations in the US, to strengthen the entrepreneurship collaboration between India and Stanford University.