Netkraft raises $5 m in venture funding

BANGALORE: Netkraft, an Indian startup which helps to integrate disparate
software applications and platforms to build cohesive networks, said on Thursday
it had raised $5.0 million from two venture funds.

The three-year-old e-business integrator would receive $2.5 million from both
JumpStartUp Fund Advisors, a fund set up by former Silicon Valley professionals,
and from CDC Capital Partners, a unit of the Commonwealth Development
Corporation, it said. CDC earlier invested $2.0 million in the firm.

The 300-employee strong company has turned profitable, and would increase its
staff strength to 400 by 2002, Kiran Nadkarni, JumpStartUp's managing director,
told a news conference. The funding would help the Bangalore-based company to
expand into North America and Europe, company officials said.

With rival operating systems made by companies like Microsoft Corp and Sun
Microsystems and a range of end-user applications, blending networks and
software to work seamlessly over the Internet is a complex task. The service is
particularly needed when companies merge. While readymade software products that
link disparate systems aid the process, they do not solve the problem, company
officials said.

"Typically the mess is so large that the amount of clean-up requires a
solutions approach," said Atul Jalan, Netkraft's managing director.
Netkraft specializes in solutions related to the retailing, manufacturing and
healthcare industries.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.