IDG, Ascent invest in India's Newgen, Headland exits

According to a source familiar with the transaction, approximately INR600 million of the capital committed was used to acquire Headland's stake. The remainder will go towards product development and strengthening Newgen's presence in the US and other major developed markets.

Headland invested INR300 million (then $7.6 million) in the company in 2008, with SAP Ventures committing INR100 million later the same year.

Founded in 1992 by Diwakar Nigam, who is still managing director, Newgen originally provided imaging processing and document management solutions. While these remain part of its core offering, the company has expanded into other areas of business process management, enterprise content management and customer communication management.

It has more than 1,000 installations in over 50 countries, with a client base that includes banks, insurers, healthcare organizations, government agencies, telecom providers and business process outsourcing firms. TCS, HP and HCL are said to be among the users.

"We are extremely excited to partner with Newgen, which is a global software product leader and a role model for budding Indian product start-ups," said Sudhir Sethi, founder, chairman and managing director of IDG Ventures India. "Enterprise software is a key area of focus for IDG Ventures India, and Diwakar has been a pioneer in the space. We look forward to Newgen's continued rapid growth across areas such as cloud and mobility."

IDG typically invests $1-10 million in early and expansion stage technology companies in the digital consumer, enterprise software and engineering spaces. It most recently participated in a Series C round of funding - led by Vertex Venture Management - for existing portfolio company Brainbees Solutions, which runs Indian baby and kids focused e-commerce site FirstCry.com.

Ascent manages approximately $600 million across three funds and has backed more than 46 businesses since 2000.

Avendus Capital served as financial advisor on the Newgen transaction.

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• Topics
• Venture
• Technology
• South Asia
• Early-stage
• Exits
• Venture
• India
• TMT
• IDG Capital Partners
• Ascent Capital
• Headland Capital Partners
• Exit