Acquavit, Rediff form JV to create Web community
Express Computer, (Abhijit Basu), September 27, 1999

Acquavit, the US-based incubation company, has formed a 74:26 joint venture with Rediff on the Net to create a web community for IT professionals in the country. The venture, NetPilgrim, will conduct online recruitment auctions as part of its service package. Acquavit has already invested $1 million in the venture, and has committed a further $5 million over the next two years.

It is understood that acquavit is scouting for more partners to pick up stakes in the JV. The company is negotiating with a few Australian and Indian firms for possible investments in the venture. The company has already fully acquired Mumbai-based Web Employment Exchange, an online recruitment firm, and is looking for more such companies to integrate their operations as a part of its offerings.

According to Rajesh Jog, Partner, acquavit, this venture is a apart of the company's Net-related activities in the country. "We are essentially an incubation firm, wherein we provide the much-needed hand-holding to start-up companies. However, if we see a possible venture wherein we can invest on our own or with partners, we will definitely look at it. This JV with Rediff is a part of this initiative," he said.

Talking of the on-line bidding service, Jog said. "This is a unique proposition as the most difficult part of any recruitment process is the monetary negotiation bit. We plan to do it all online here," said Jog. For this, acquavit has partnered with US-based Future Step AT, which is a JV between Dow Jones & Company and Korn/Ferry International, a leading executive search firm.

The portal will invite resumes from technical professionals in the country, which will be sorted by Future Step and 500 candidates will be selected. The bidding for these candidates is expected to take place in October. Jog said Acquavit would arrange to have a closed user group bidding process, which would include around 60 Silicon Valley majors like Amazon.com, Yahoo and Cisco. "While Future Step will do the offline bit, we will conduct the auction online," added Jog.

Rediff, on its part, will host the portal as well as provide links to it from its site www.rediff.com. Its understood that the current job section of Rediff will be replaced by the new portal. Also, an additional channel called Techpeople will be put up on Rediff.com, which will link to this portal. As part of this deal, acquavit will also source relevant content from Rediff.

In addition to recruitment, other services planned include banking, relocation services, travel, housing assistance, legal forum, technical forum and so on. "We aim to make it a one-stop portal for the technology professional's needs. Currently, it is very difficult for the person to find out how to accommodate himself in the US. We will provide links to all possible services that one might need once he/she lands up in the US. Our primary aim is to strengthen the India-US software professional corridor," said Jog.