Big money deal for big data giant Mu Sigma

Indeed, this "big data" - datasets that grow so large they become awkward to work with - has become suitably formidable that many companies (and individuals) often feel they are drowning in information. That's why a service provider like Mu Sigma is in demand, and partly why the Indian company last week received a $108 million Series-D investment from General Atlantic (GA) and Sequoia Capital.

As a supplier of analytics and decision support services to global enterprises, Mu Sigma is capitalizing on the need for businesses to understand and create value from the intelligence they receive. By helping firms to "institutionalize analytics" - or make analytics an ongoing part of their decision-making process - it aims to enable them to make better decisions. "The company's market is large and growing, fueled by the big data phenomenon and a serious shortage of data scientists in the US," points out Bill Ford, CEO of GA, who will be joining the Mu Sigma board.

Having been tracking the decision support and analytics market segments for some time, GA identified Mu Sigma as a significant player in this space and approached the firm directly several years ago. The company represented an attractive minority investment proposition as it fits with the private equity firm's industry focus on the business services sector and has a strong and experienced management team. According to Ford, Mu Sigma also has scale, strong brand recognition and loyalty amongst its Fortune 500 client base, and opportunities for future growth by penetrating new industry verticals and expanding internationally.

Mu Sigma, which employs 1,500 analytics professionals at its main delivery center in Bangalore, will use some of the new capital to buy shares held by existing shareholders. The rest will go towards extending its services and attracting new customers in new markets, for which GA is expected to be instrumental.

GA was advised on the deal by D. Gordon Cruess at Paul Weiss and Ravi Vishwanath at Ernst & Young. It comes after Sequoia - which increased its stake through this latest round - led a $25 million round for Mu Sigma last June via its Indian and US growth funds, bringing the firm's fundraising total to $150 million. It also raised $30 million of venture funding from FTV Capital in 2008.

The Chicago-based company was founded by current CEO Dhiraj Rajaram in 2004 and generated revenue growth of 886% between 2008 and 2010. An IPO is being touted a possibility for the future.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Expansion
• General Atlantic
• India
• TMT
• Growth capital
• Sequoia Capital