Rajesh Jain, 54, a pioneer of India’s internet business, is preparing his second startup, Netcore Cloud Pvt., for an initial public offering within the next year.
“We’ve had initial conversations with half-a-dozen bankers and the formal process will start in the next couple of months,” Jain said over a Zoom call discussing the acquisition and the IPO. “We are targeting an IPO within the next nine to 12 months.”
Netcore, based in Mumbai, is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that specialises in providing organisations with client communication and engagement solutions. It obtained a 90% share in Unbxd Inc., an e-commerce search-personalization company situated in San Mateo, California.
The acquisition would strengthen Netcore’s offerings to its roster of global customers such as Pizza Hut Inc., The Body Shop Inc. and Tommy Hilfiger Corp. The deal would also boost the company’s subscription revenues to $150 million annually within the next 18 months from about $100 million now, Jain said.
Netcore is IPO-ready as it’s “a large global SaaS company out of India, very profitable and dominates India and emerging markets like Southeast Asia,” said Jain, who holds about a two-third stake in the company. The remainder is owned by employees.
Jain received his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and his master’s degree from Columbia University. He worked in the United States for two years before returning to India to start his own business. In 1995, he sold IndiaWorld Communications, his first firm, in one of Asia’s largest internet deals of the dotcom era.
According to the company’s acquisition statement, the SaaS startup has over 5,000 global clients and delivers over 15 billion marketing emails and texts weekly through its platform.
Unbxd is the company’s fourth purchase, with all of them being paid by internal accruals, according to the company. According to Netcore, the new acquisition will continue to operate as a separate organisation.
