• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

24/7 Customer.com to raise $10 million

Vishwanath Kulkarni

BANGALORE, Jan. 4

24/7 CUSTOMER.COM, the Bangalore-based electronic customer relation management (e-CRM) services company, plans to raise $10 million to part-finance its expansion plans.

Mr Prakash Gurbaxani, founder and CEO, said that the company was in talks with a couple of venture capital companies both in India and US.

Declining to comment on the percentage of equity that the company plans to dilute, he said that the process of raising funds would be completed over the next two months.

The company, which offers both Web and voice-based support services, plans to invest about $20 million in expanding its operations management and infrastructure over the next one year.

It has already invested close to $3 million and for the additional $7 million, the company may go in for a long-term debt, he added.

24x7 is planning to expand its manpower base from the current 120 to over 800 people in the next 12 months. ``We have got a capacity to house about 350 people at the International Technology Park facility in Bangalore. We plan to branch out either to Man galore or to other metros once the capacity at Bangalore office is reached,'' Mr Gurbaxani said.

The company is now focusing on acquiring business in the US. ``We have received several enquiries from the UK, where we hope to start our marketing operations in the near future,'' he said.

Its half-a-dozen clientele includes, among others, Alta Vista, Rediff.com and Compaq India. The company is also targeting at least six of the global 500 companies in the next two years.

24x7 is aiming at a growth rate of 100-300 per cent in the first 3-4 years. The company, which started operations in April 2000, is looking at a revenue of Rs 100 crore 3-5 years down the line.

``We hope to break even in the 11th quarter and are looking at margins between 20 and 25 per cent,'' Mr Gurbaxani said.