New Delhi, Feb. 6 -- Multiples Alternate Asset Management, the private equity firm founded by Renuka Ramnath, said Thursday the firm and its co-investors have agreed to invest $200 million (Rs 1,751 crore) to acquire a controlling stake in digital product engineering platform QBurst.
This transaction marks Multiples PE's largest control investment in technology services, the firm said in a statement. It added that it intends to focus on enterprise technology as a priority sector in the next few years.
"We have also stepped up our US origination capabilities, marking a beginning of many such large-scale control transactions," Ramnath said in the statement.
Manish Gaur, managing director and head of enterprise technology at Multiples, said the private equity firm intended to deploy "close to $2 billion" (Rs 17,510 crore) in the enterprise tech segment in the next five years.
The development comes more than six months after VCCircle reported in July last year that QBurst was looking to raise PE funding and that it could be a control-oriented transaction.
This is the third deal that Multiples PE has struck since October when it made the final close of its fourth fund. The firm likely raised $850-880 million for the fund, stopping short of its hard cap of $1 billion, VCCircle reported at the time. In December, Multiples led a $118-million round of investment in mortgage lender Shubham Housing and then invested $35 million in logistics firm INSTANT-XP for a minority stake.
QBurst, founded in 2004, is a software services and consulting company. It offers digital product development services, enterprise digitalization, data analytics, cloud services, AI and generative AI services, automation, and digital marketing enablement services. While it is headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram, it has offices in other India cities as well as the US, Canada, Japan, Johannesburg, Munich, Salisbury, Stockholm, Dubai, Singapore, and Sydney.
In FY23, QBurst's net income jumped 51% to Rs 656 crore. Its net profit jumped nearly 50% to Rs 123.6 crore.
"Our partnership will drive transformational success for the company, backed by exceptional talent addition, increased investments in emerging technologies, and strategic acquisitions," Ramnath said. She added that QBurst founders Prathapan Sethu, Binu Dasappan and Ansar Shihabudeen will continue to have "a meaningful stake" in the company,
Some of Multiples' current portfolio companies that lean heavily on technology include AI and data services player Quantiphi, HR tech business PeopleStrong, and customer engagement SaaS business MoEngage.
BDA Partners was the sole financial advisor, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. acted as legal advisor, while Ernst & Young was the tax advisor to QBurst. Anagram Partners acted as the legal advisor, while E&Y was the financial and tax advisor to Multiples, the statement said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.