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Persistent Systems, a leading Outsourced
Software Product Development company, announced last week
that it has closed a round of financing bringing total capital
investment to $18.8 million. Persistent's funding comes from
two leading venture capital firms, Norwest Venture Partners
(NVP) and Gabriel Venture Partners. NVP invested $13.8 million
in this round, and Gabriel Venture Partners invested $5 million.
Promod Haque, Managing Partner of NVP, and Navin Chaddha,
General Partner of Gabriel Venture Partners, have joined the
Persistent board of directors.
The investment comes at a time when
Persistent has been on a high expansion trajectory with both
indirect and organic growth initiatives. Growing at a 70 %
CAGR over the past three years, Persistent has seen robust
growth in its stature as a leading Outsourced Software Product
Development company with clients ranging from start-up companies
to Fortune 500 corporations.
Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman & Managing
Director of Persistent Systems, said that "Persistent has
charted aggressive growth plans in the coming year, and it
is desirable that we partner with the leading and most established
venture firms that will bring world class business process,
offer valuable experience at the board level and provide top
class exposure for Persistent in the most developed market-the
US. This will elevate Persistent to the next level, and the
company will further augment its presence in the US and aggressively
look at accelerating its growth. We have been working with
Navin for more than a year as a trusted partner and were delighted
when he brought Promod to co-lead the investment with him.”
Expressing his views on this investment
in Persistent Systems, Promod Haque stated that "Persistent
is a profitable company with superior technology, significant
customer traction and a highly experienced management team
- a combination that is extremely rare to find, and an investment
opportunity NVP couldn't let go. The company has already proven
itself in the rapidly growing Outsourced Software Product
Development area, and this infusion of capital will further
accelerate Persistent's ability to access this global market
opportunity. Several of NVP's portfolio companies have already
been using Persistent Systems' development services for quite
some time and are extremely satisfied with the quality of
people and services rendered. One of the critical reasons
that NVP agreed to make this investment is based on the premise
that several more of NVP's current and future portfolio companies
could partner with Persistent to accelerate their product
development schedules and achieve cost effectiveness."
Outlining Gabriel's rationale for
investment in Persistent Systems, Navin Chaddha explained,
"The Indian Offshore Software Product Development space is
expected to touch the $8 billion mark by 2008 according to
NASSCOM-McKinsey report. To meet the market demands of such
scale, a company needs to have a stellar management team,
strong employee base with distinct engineering skills, scaleable
operations, experience in shipping products and sharp business
direction. Persistent shows remarkable promise in all these
areas and has a diversified customer base of over 150 customers
along with experience in shipping more than 700 product releases
and over 2300 employees today (80% with Computer Science degrees).
The momentum is with Persistent, and we have come in at the
right time."
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