UTI Venture Funds invests over $2 million in Rev IT, Sherpa

Mumbai: UTI Venture Funds, the venture capital arm of Unit Trust of India and TDA Capital Partners, has invested over $2 million in Rev IT Systems, a Chennai-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company, and its US-based subsidiary, Sherpa Business Solutions, a BPO company in healthcare and publishing.

One nominee from UTI Venture Funds will be joining the company board. This is in addition to Girish Kulkarni of TDA who is already on the board. Spark Capital, based in Chennai, acted as investment bankers to the transaction.

RevIT currently services the healthcare insurance companies out of the US and manages more than 450 people in Chennai. The promoters are also investing $1 million in the venture.

Says UTI Venture Funds CEO and managing director Raja Kumar: "RevIT's strong presence in the US markets, its understanding of the multibillion dollar US healthcare market, and its unique delivery capabilities will help the company to achieve significant success. We are excited to be a partner in this promising company."

"We are here to build a world-class company that is committed to our customers' success and employees' growth," says Sherpa CEO Raju Venkatraman. UTI Venture Funds is the venture capital and private equity arm of UTI. UTI Venture Funds currently manages a venture capital fund with interests in technology, life sciences and outsourcing sectors.

Representative investments of UTI Venture Funds include Moschip (India's first fables semiconductor company), Strand Genomics (a leading bioinformatics company), Divis Laboratories (a fast-growing custom synthesis pharmaceutical company), Excelsoft (an e-learning product company), NMS Works (a network management solutions company) and Knowledge Systems (an embedded solutions company).

TDA Capital is a specialised manager of private equity and venture capital investments in the emerging world. It currently manages total assets in excess of $250 million in Europe, India and Israel.

In its India Technology Fund, TDA makes investments in companies providing IT and BPO services to a global clientele, using the India offshore delivery advantage. The fund is a lead investor in other companies such as Cbay Systems (medical transcription and document management), DQ Entertainment (2D and 3D animation), Servion Global Solutions (software and application development for call centres and business response) and Deccanet Designs (telecom technology and solutions).