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.