Ideaspring Capital invests in Bengaluru startup Lavelle Networks
Early-stage venture capital fund Ideaspring Capital has invested $600,000 in Lavelle Networks, a Bengaluru-based startup in the software defined networking (SDN) space. The startup was also announced as part of Microsoft Accelerator's latest batch this week. Lavelle Networks, which offers an SDN platform to help enterprises securely connect multiple locations over the Internet, had earlier raised about $1 million in funding from US-based, listed telecommunications company ShoreTel in a strategic round in 2015 along with a few angel investors.
The startup was founded in early 2015 by former IT professionals Shyamal Kumar and Karthik Madhava, and currently works with six enterprises in India and one in the Middle East, mainly in the retail, healthcare, hospitality and insurance sectors. The company also works with some system integrators in Europe which connects their network to clients, Kumar said.
"The new funding will be used for expansion and marketing. With our entry into the Microsoft Accelerator, we also look forward to build business relations with the company for its Azure cloud platform," Kumar said.
Ideaspring Capital was set up by angel investor Naganand Doraswamy and Patni Computers' Arihant Patni last year as a Rs 125 crore fund to invest in startups focusing on product innovation that can also scale globally. The fund includes angel investor Mohandas Pai and Sasken Technologies chairman Rajiv C Mody as general partners and has Patni Computers' scions Arihant and Amit Patni on its investment committee.
"Lavelle Networks is working on an innovative product based on SDN that makes it very easy for organizations to deploy their wide area networks. We are very excited to partner with the Lavelle Networks team, who have deep experience in networking, and help them scale their company," Doraswamy said.
This is Ideaspring Capital's second seed investment. Last week, it had announced an investment of $500,000 in Chennai-based tech startup Karomi, which offers a packaging artwork management software product for pharma and FMCG units. Doraswamy said the fund looks for the quality of the team and the founder's understanding of the domain while also evaluating the market size and the technological differentiator. He said the fund will also make follow-on investments of up to Rs 5 crore in its portfolio companies in pre-Series A rounds.
The startup was founded in early 2015 by former IT professionals Shyamal Kumar and Karthik Madhava, and currently works with six enterprises in India and one in the Middle East, mainly in the retail, healthcare, hospitality and insurance sectors. The company also works with some system integrators in Europe which connects their network to clients, Kumar said.
"The new funding will be used for expansion and marketing. With our entry into the Microsoft Accelerator, we also look forward to build business relations with the company for its Azure cloud platform," Kumar said.
Ideaspring Capital was set up by angel investor Naganand Doraswamy and Patni Computers' Arihant Patni last year as a Rs 125 crore fund to invest in startups focusing on product innovation that can also scale globally. The fund includes angel investor Mohandas Pai and Sasken Technologies chairman Rajiv C Mody as general partners and has Patni Computers' scions Arihant and Amit Patni on its investment committee.
"Lavelle Networks is working on an innovative product based on SDN that makes it very easy for organizations to deploy their wide area networks. We are very excited to partner with the Lavelle Networks team, who have deep experience in networking, and help them scale their company," Doraswamy said.
This is Ideaspring Capital's second seed investment. Last week, it had announced an investment of $500,000 in Chennai-based tech startup Karomi, which offers a packaging artwork management software product for pharma and FMCG units. Doraswamy said the fund looks for the quality of the team and the founder's understanding of the domain while also evaluating the market size and the technological differentiator. He said the fund will also make follow-on investments of up to Rs 5 crore in its portfolio companies in pre-Series A rounds.
