Bharti Airtel on Monday said it is acquiring nearly 25 per cent equity stake in Bengaluru-based technology startup Lavelle Networks to strengthen its Network-as-a-service (NaaS) portfolio. Lavelle Networks' flagship 'ScaleAOn-SD-WAN' platform has connected several thousands of Indian enterprises from the nation's largest financial institutions to e-commerce networks, the company said.
"With our end-to-end solutions play and brand trust, we are uniquely positioned to serve the needs of India's fast growing digital economy," said Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO - Airtel Business. SD-WAN market in India is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 55 per cent in 2022-2026, according to Frost & Sullivan data.
Airtel Business' NaaS is a digital platform which is built to address the emerging connectivity requirements of enterprises as they go through the cloud and digital adoption. As part of its NaaS portfolio, Airtel said it will offer software defined connectivity solution from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform.
"We are extremely excited that our product and early market success will now be massively accelerated by this transformational partnership with Airtel," said Shyamal Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Lavelle Networks.
Airtel Business serves over one million businesses through its integrated technology portfolio.
Last week, Bharti Airtel and Google announced a multi-year agreement to boost India's digital ecosystem, with Sundar Pichai-led tech giant investing $700 million to acquire 1.28 per cent ownership in Airtel and up to $300 million toward commercial agreements.
The $700 million equity investment in Bharti Airtel is at a price per share of Rs 734, while $300 million will go towards investments in scaling Airtel's offerings that covers a range of devices to consumers.