Bharti Airtel to acquire 25% stake in technology startup Lavelle Networks
In a filing to the stock exchange, the company said that the acquisition of the stake had been done at mutually agreed pre-money enterprise valuation.
Bharti Airtel on Monday said it would acquire 25% equity stake in Bengaluru-based technology startup, Lavelle Networks, which specialises in Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solutions.
In a filing to the stock exchange, the company said that the acquisition of the stake had been done at mutually agreed pre-money enterprise valuation. “The said valuation is not disclosed herein due to reasons of confidentiality,” it said. “As part of its NaaS [Network as a service] portfolio, Airtel will offer software defined connectivity solutions from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform. This also aims to bring “Made in India” products and solutions for enterprises by offering cutting edge technology and cost efficiencies,” the company said in a statement.
Airtel Business’ NaaS is a digital platform which is built to address the emerging connectivity requirements of enterprises as they go through the cloud and digital adoption and acceleration journey.
Lavelle Networks served a range of industry segments and its platform had connected several thousands of Indian enterprises from the nation’s largest financial institutions to e-commerce networks, the company said, adding that this would boost Airtel Business’ NaaS portfolio as enterprises looked to deploy Software Defined networks to support their digital transformation journeys.
The agreement is subject to applicable statutory approvals.
“SD-WAN is the necessary arsenal for enterprises to transform and future-proof their network infrastructure in this digital age. Its market in India is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 55% in 2022-2026,” according to Apalak Ghosh, Associate Director and Head of ICT, Frost & Sullivan South Asia.
Mr. Ghosh said that as per F&S End-User Survey 2021, about 62% of enterprises planned to deploy SD-WAN across their organisations in the next 1-2 years. Some of the major drivers which would contribute to this phenomenal run included the need for seamless management of Hybrid Networks, faster deployment of new sites, and network cost-efficiency, he added.
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