After Unsilo, Infosys writes off investment in data sciences startup Waterline

Infosys has written off its investment in data sciences startup Waterline Data after the Mountain View, California-based company was dissolved, the Bengaluru-based information technology (IT) services company said in a disclosure to stock exchanges.

Infosys invested a total of $5.5 million (or around Rs 360 crore at 2016-18 currency conversion rates) in Waterline Data over two tranches from its Innovation Fund to acquire a minority stake in the startup.

It invested $4 million in the first tranche in 2016 and followed up with a $1.5 million tranche in 2018.

"The company (Infosys) informs that Waterline Data has completed the process of dissolution. There is nil consideration upon dissolution and accordingly, there are no dues outstanding to the company," Infosys said in the disclosure.

The IT services firm did not specify the reasons for the startup shuttering its operations.  

This is the second such investment write-down by Infosys in as many months. In late January, it exited its investment in Danish artificial intelligence (AI) startup Unsilo after three years at more than a 60% loss. 

Waterline Data provided data scientists and business analysts with a self-service data catalogue to help understand and provision data, according to Infosys. The platform provided an automated data inventory that enabled agile data governance across metadata, data quality and data lineage, Infosys had said at the time of its investment.

During the tenure of former CEO Vishal Sikka, Infosys made multiple investments in startups as well as a few acquisitions to bolster the company's product and emerging technology expertise. These included companies such as Panaya, DWA Nova and Skava. In all those instances, the company has seen its investment erode by more than two-thirds.