Big Data firm Indus Insights raises Series A funding from Unilazer & Hive India

Gurgaon-based Big Data firm Indus Insights has raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A round of funding led by Ronnie Screwvala's Unilazer Ventures. Hive India, the Big Data startup fund launched by Patni siblings—Amit and Arihant Patni also co-invested in the round.

The funds will be used to expand the company's team of data scientists and to drive its sales and marketing efforts across the globe.

"Ronnie is one of India's most successful first generation entrepreneurs, and we look forward to his and the Unilazer team's involvement in taking Indus Insights to new heights. Similarly, Hive's singular focus on Big Data and the leadership team's experience in building scalable B2B businesses at Patni Computer Systems make this association extremely productive," said Saurabh Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Indus Insights.

Founded in 2009, the startup has clients from financial services, retail and e-tail sectors spanning four continents. According to the company, organisations need to use data effectively – to understand customer behaviour across multiple channels, personalise their offerings and make smart bets on the right kinds of customers. "They need to make the leap from just collecting a lot of data to making data analytics a long-term strategic advantage," added Saurabh.

Both the founders Saurabh and Neha M Sharma (husband and wife) have been in the financial services analytics and management consulting space and had earlier worked at companies like Bain & Co, Capital One and Citibank, in the US.

"If internet made the world flat and brought the customer closer in every respect, then data and deep analysis of data will take customer understanding and personalisation to the next level. We believe strong and scalable companies targeting the global market will emerge in this space from India," said Ankit Shah of Unilazer Ventures.

Dexter Capital acted as an exclusive advisor to Indus Insights for this transaction.

Prior to this round, Indus Insights had raised over $90,000 in angel funding from a consortium of angel investors, including Shivraj Mundy, president of mass affluent credit cards division at JPMorgan Chase; Himanshu Nagpal, director of marketing strategy & analytics at Capital One; Bhawna Bhatia; and Kashyap Deorah, a serial entrepreneur. In addition, Secil Baysal, General Counsel at Wonga.com is also an investor in the company.

In September last year, Patni brothers, the sons of one of the co-founders of Patni Computer Systems which was acquired by iGate in 2011, had launched a Big Data-focused early-stage startup fund called The Hive India. The fund invests in the range of $200,000 to $2 million 'predominantly in early-stage Big Data ventures', and has already invested in companies like California-based Colabo and Flutura Solutions, among others.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)