TVS Motor Company Ltd has invested $3.2 million (Rs 22.8 crore at current exchange rate) in Predictronics Corp., a US-based maintenance analytics firm that is the latest bet in the Chennai-headquartered two-wheeler maker's startup investment spree.
Under the deal, wholly-owned unit TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte. Ltd has ploughed $3.2 million (Rs 22.8 crore at current exchange rate) in the startup.
In a filing with Indian stock exchanges, TVS Motor Company said it will help Predictronics deliver its solutions, which are based on artificial intelligence and industrial Internet of Things.
TVS Motor (Singapore) chief executive and TVS Motor Co. board member Rajesh Narasimhan said the company had evaluated several firms across the world before settling on Predictronics. The target firm’s platform collects and analyses Big Data with a goal of reducing unplanned downtime, increasing productivity and improving product quality, Narasimhan said.
Predictronics co-founder and chief executive Edzel Lapira said the investment by TVS would help guide the company as well as improve its technology, deployment and business models.
The investment is expected to be completed by the end of August. Shares of TVS Motor Co. were trading 1.07% down at Rs 372.7 apiece at the time of writing this report.
Cincinnati-based Predictronics says it works across sectors such as manufacturing, transportation, energy and industrial equipment.
Listed TVS Motor Co. is the flagship company of the TVS Group. It uses its Singapore unit to invest in digital technology startups focused on the automotive and financial technology industries.
In July, the company invested $7 million in New York-headquartered analytics startup Scienaptic Systems Inc., leading a Series A investment round.
In May, it invested $3.85 million in machine learning company Tagbox Solutions as part of a Series A funding round. The month before, it invested in Pune-based Altizon Systems Pvt. Ltd, which develops solutions based on the industrial Internet of Things.
In August last year, it increased its stake in electric bike maker Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt. Ltd through an investment of Rs 6 crore (around $860,000 then). TVS had earlier invested Rs 5 crore in Ultraviolette in December 2017 for a 14.78% stake.
