SUMMARY
The move takes Airtel’s total shareholding in Lavelle Networks from 25% to 45.6% for an undisclosed cash consideration
The homegrown Lavelle Networks specialises in SD-WAN solutions and serves a range of industry segments
The telecom giant also rolled out its startup accelerator programme in late 2019 to invest in early stage startups
Bharti Airtel has picked up more stake in the Bengaluru-based enterprise network technology startup Lavelle Networks.
Without sharing the transaction details, in a filing, Airtel said that its total shareholding in Lavelle Networks would increase from the current 25% to 45.6%. The acquisition shall be made in multiple tranches, upon fulfilment of conditions precedent.
The news comes 18 months after Airtel had picked up a 25% stake in Lavelle in January 2022.
The homegrown Lavelle Networks specialises in Software-Defined (SD) Wide Area Network (WAN) solutions and serves a range of industry segments. Founded in 2015 by Shyamal Kumar and Karthik Madhava, it is a networking software startup that delivers cloud-powered technology to optimise, secure and manage enterprise branch networks.
According to the startup, it launched its product line in 2016-2017 and accelerated to a significant market share within the last three years in the early adopters of SD-WAN technology in India. Airtel’s filings showed that in FY22, Lavelle’s turnover stood at INR 14.08 Cr.
Its flagship ‘ScaleAOn – SD-WAN’ platform has connected several thousands of Indian enterprises, including financial institutions and ecommerce networks. The startup counts the likes of Swiggy, Godrej, Jubilant Foodworks, Barbeque Nation and Max Life Insurance among its clients.
The startup was also a part of the sixth cohort of Google for Startups India.
Airtel offers software-defined connectivity solutions from Lavelle Networks and has co-created a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform.
Shares of Airtel opened at INR 891.65 apiece on Wednesday (July 12), with the shares hitting a 52-week high of INR 895.25 during the early hours of trading on Wednesday. Apart from Lavelle Networks, the telecom giant has invested in startups such as Voicezen and Vahan.
Airtel had rolled out its startup accelerator programme in late 2019 to back early stage startups innovating in telecom, AI/ML and associated verticals.
