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WestBridge invests $15million in FirstRing call centre

Fakir Chand Fakir Chand in Bangalore

WestBridge Capital Partners, a leading US-India venture capital firm with about $140-million funds in its kitty, has invested $15 million in FirstRing, the US-based customer care company providing high-quality, low-cost customer relationship management services.

With the latest investment coming in the second round of funding, FirstRing has raised till date $20 million in venture capital, including $4 million in equity capital from Delhi-based Hero Corporate Services, a blue-chip Indian business group, and Ravi Sethi, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, in the first round.

Company officials, however, declined to give either the holding pattern post second round of funding or the controlling stake of the promoters. Citing confidentiality, even the turnover of FirstRing has not been disclosed.

The fresh infusion of funds will go in expanding FirstRing's world class delivery centre, set up in the International Technology Park at Whitefield on the outskirts of Bangalore. The employees' strength will go up to 2,000 from the current 720 by the end of the year.

According to FirstRing COO and head of India operations Robert Reilly, the company integrates the expanding capabilities of telecom and Internet technologies with a highly skilled global workforce to provide interactive customer care to Fortune 500 corporations.

"We are already outsourcing the requirements of four US-based Fortune 500 companies in the areas of telecom, financial services, and insurance. We are gearing up to offer customer services to more such corporations in the near future by deploying additional workforce in hundreds," Reilly stated.

FirstRing's CRM services include inbound and outbound voice support, e-mail processing, e-commerce customer care and help desk services, telemarketing, and consultative services, besides back office functions.

Positioning itself as a strategic business partner to select large corporate customers, FirstRing provides CRM solutions to customers in the US, Europe, and Asia with cost savings of 30-40 per cent as against US market providers of similar services.

WestBridge director K P Balaraj disclosed here on Tuesday that the venture capital firm was looking for similar strategic investments in IT-enabled services companies promoted and run by Indian techies either in the US or India.

"We are lining up an additional $5-million investments in enterprise and IT-related outsourcing companies," he added.

WestBridge has so far invested around $5 million in the recently formed US-based Workadia LLC, a $17-million joint venture with the Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies, American Express and TIBCO Software."

Early this year, WestBridge, which has also set up its India investment centre in Bangalore, has invested $2-million each in another Bangalore-based company, Tarang Technologies, an upcoming wireless and enterprise integration services space, and in Intercept Technologies, a Madras-based CRM technology company.

It was founded by Sumir Chadha, Balaraj and Raj Dugar, all former Goldman Sachs professionals with expertise in venture capital, investment banking, and entrepreneurship. The other key investors include Goldman Sachs, SUN Technology, Capital Z Investments, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, Reuters, and TIBCO.

The $145-million fund focuses primarily on cross-border US-India technology companies that are targeting the US market despite the down turn in its economy.

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