The Hindu : Business : Tejas to invest $15 m

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

Business

Business

Tejas to invest $15 m

By Anand Parthasarathy

BANGALORE, JAN. 6. Carl Stjernfeldt, a partner in Boston, U.S.-based venture capital firm, Battery Ventures, takes his seat this week on the board of Tejas Networks, one of the very few Indian players in the global optical networking business. He brings with him an investment of $15 million, signalling growing recognition that this is where the telecom revolution is happening.

Announcing the fresh infusion of capital that makes Tejas a $30 million player in the specialist niche of networking products that `light up' the coloured fibre optic cabling that is an increasingly common scene in Indian towns, the founder-Chairman, Gururaj Deshpande, explained that the company would continue to do what it does best: create products that link the `core' of the network to the `edge,' for its telecom customers who include MTNL, BSNL, Tata Telecom, Dishnet and RailTel.

However, it will increasingly compete in the global arena as an OEM partner in multi-million dollar tenders. Tejas products, designed and manufactured in India, are already working in telecom markets like Russia, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Middle East — a significant reversal in the general pattern where foreign hardware is brought to India.

Mr. Stjernfeldt told The Hindu that Battery Ventures invested in the five-year old Tejas because it had "one of the best next-generation product lines.''

"There is so much talent in Bangalore that it makes sense for us to participate... Indeed, the world is seeing a fundamental shift from the big telecom providers to the smaller, innovative players like Tejas,'' he added.

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