Messaging services startup Solutions Infini eyes $25 mn revenue this fiscal

When the recession hit the job market in the country in 2000, two gung-ho youngsters –  then 22-year-old Aniketh Jain and 21-year-old Ashish Agarwal,  decided to combine their interests and experience in technology and start-up rather than scour the market and wait to be called for an interview. College mates and colleagues at Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College of Engineering, Bengaluru where they had together executed a software program, the duo were comfortable with each other’s strengths. [caption id=“attachment_3069070” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  (left to right) Ashish Agarwal, Aniketh Jain, and Dario Calogero[/caption] Borrowing Rs 4 lakh each from their parents, they set up Solutions Infini, a Bengaluru-based enterprise communication and cloud telephony services in 2009. The company zoomed up the graph in the first year itself when its revenues touched around Rs 75 lakh. The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which started off with just the founders, has currently over 120 employees, a network of 7 offices, over 5,000 customers and has an annual revenue run rate of $25 million with CAGR of over 80 percent. It is also, according to Jain, the only player in the Indian market to provide integrated communications solutions via notifications, voice and email, enabled by its cloud-based technology platform. The company’s success graph piqued interest in Italy’s Ubiquity – a global messaging platform company, which acquired a majority stake in Solutions Infini last week. The investment is part of Ubiquity’s drive to build and diversify its revenues and expand its international presence beyond Europe, particularly in the emerging markets, whilst also providing Solutions Infini with a global platform to scale up in other international markets. This strategic acquisition will broaden Ubiquity’s offerings and business solutions, including the addition of an innovative voice services platform by expanding its range of services to the enterprise and developer segments, Jain said. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in early 2017, following which Solutions Infini will become a subsidiary of Ubiquity. The startup’s business operations will continue to be led by its two main founders, Jain and Agarwal. The duo will also assume larger global roles at Ubiquity. Jain says that the combination of the two companies will create a global group with offices in 10 locations across Europe, India and the Middle East, with a collective turnover of over $65 million and 180 employees. Ubiquity officials expect this partnership to help generate combined business revenues of over $200 million by 2020. Solutions Infini closed 2015 with revenues of around $16 million and hopes to close this fiscal at $25 million. Of his interest in Infini Solutions, Dario Calogero, founder and CEO of Ubiquity said, “The mobile services industry is growing rapidly in many parts of the world. Increasingly, corporate decisions about professional mobile communications are based on the capability to reach and connect with customer bases across the world through simple and fast technologies. We recognize that network scale, technology, marketing expertise and customer loyalty are keys to a new generation of mobile and location-based digital marketing services. Therefore, we believe Solutions Infini will be an excellent addition to our existing businesses, thanks to its state-of-the-art cloud platform, outstanding management team, and its large customer and partner base.” Solutions Infini enables enterprises across industries to engage with their customers using mobile messaging, voice communication and e-mail. With a customer base spread across Asia, the company today boasts of a list of more than 5,000 clients which include e-commerce, banks and financial services. Jain (29 years old), co-founder and CEO says, “Solutions Infini has an eight-year history of constant success and impressive growth. We have built modern scalable, integrated technology to enable our enterprise customers to have superior customer engagement using mobile communication. Joining Ubiquity will help us accelerate our expansion into new, international markets and also allow us to drive greater value to consumers and help them grow their businesses”. Agarwal (28 years old) said, Solutions Infini, which planned to go global early on, has an office in Dubai. With the company now becoming a subsidiary of Ubiquity, Infini Solutions nurtures ambitious plans and a global role. “We will be taking up a global role and come out with a collaborative product. We will continue to function the way we are, but come out with new products that will be enterprise-focussed which will draw customers to it. Right now we are trying to create a communication platform and single API access which is focused on developers. It is a broad plan and will take six months time,”  he said.