Wipro Ventures, the $100-million venture capital arm of India’s third largest software exporter Wipro, has invested an undisclosed amount for a minority stake in Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity startup Vectra Networks, according to an executive directly familiar with the matter.
Vectra, which was incorporated in 2011, boasts of the likes of Khosla Ventures, Accel Partners, Intel Capital and DAG Ventures as its marquee investors. Vectra, which has built a next-generation platform that helps prevent cyber attacks, employs a sizable team of data scientists, network security engineers and user interface designers.
When contacted, a Wipro spokesperson confirmed the latest investment from Wipro Ventures. Wipro, however, did not disclose the exact amount it has invested in Vectra. Typically Wipro’s startup investments have ranged from anywhere between $1 million – $10 million.
“Vectra Networks is a startup focused on the Advanced Persistent Threat domain. Wipro completed this investment in March 2016 and plans to go to market with Vectra jointly with its Cybersecurity and Risk Services practice offerings,” a Wipro spokesperson said.
The latest investment from Wipro comes at a time when cross-town arch-rival Infosys is also aggressively betting on new-age early-stage ventures which are working on potentially disruptive technology ideas. Infosys has a war chest of $500 million to go after such investments and on April 27 invested in Silicon Valley-based startup Trifacta, which helps clean up data and make it more usable and insightful.
Wipro Ventures has so far invested in at least half a dozen early stage ventures including big data startup Talena, artificial intelligence startup Vicarious and Pune-based Altizon, which has built a new-age Internet-of-Things powered platform.
Source: The Economic Times
