Singapore Based Bridge Data Centres Looks To Pour $500 Mn Into India

Bridge Data Centres is looking to invest $500 Mn in India over the next two years. As per reports, the investment will enable the Singapore-based data centre outsourcing (DCO) company to gain a stronghold of the country’s fast-growing market for data centres.

Founded in 2016 by Michael Foust and Kris Kumar, in partnership with Bain Capital, the startup assists businesses in greenfield development, data centre outsourcing, operation and co-location of data hubs.

Commenting on the recent development, CEO of Bridge Data Centres Kris Kumar stated, “Of the $1 Bn corpus from Bain Capital, we will deploy $400 Mn -$500 Mn over the next two years across markets in India. The demand for data centres has grown to rates of 25%-30% a year now, which is not unusual for a market that is vibrant in terms of digitisation.”

According to Kumar, who previously worked as an Executive Advisor-Strategy at Tata Communications International in Singapore, Bridge Data Centres is currently looking to expand its operations across Asia Pacific. He said, “We are targeting a mix of acquisitions and greenfield investments depending on individual market dynamics and availability of opportunities. Our programme is predicated on assembling a portfolio of high quality facilities that meet global standards of design, construction and operations.”

In recent times, businesses across the globe have started outsourcing the construction and management of data hubs to specialised data centre service providers like Bridge Data Centres. In addition to building the actual data centres, these companies often handle a myriad of day-to-day operations, including storage, server security, cooling as well as maintenance of power and space.

Speaking about the burgeoning demand for DCO providers, Kumar added, “The demand drivers in India are 75% global companies coming to India and 25% domestic outsourcing of data centres. We expect this to shift to a 50-50 split to create outsourcing.”

In a world where over 2.5 quintillion (i.e. a thousand raised to the power of six) bytes of data are generated every single day in the form of images, videos, tweets, emails and content, data centres serve as the backbone that facilitates swift transmission of data across thousands of kilometers without any downtime whatsoever.

In June 2017, Alibaba revealed plans to set up two new cloud data centres in India and Indonesia, in an attempt to strengthen the company’s computing resources in Asia. Earlier in January 2017, US-based data storage and management firm NetApp launched its Global Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, as part of a $155 Mn (INR 1,000 Cr) investment. In December last year, Amaravati-headquartered Pi DATACENTERS raised $23 Mn from Epsilon Venture Partners. It was reported that the funds would be used to roll out state-of-the-art data centres across India.

Multinational alternative investment firm Bain Capital recently infused $10 Mn in Bengaluru-based consumer leasing startup RentoMojo has raised $10 Mn in Series B funding round led by Renaud Laplanche. Existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures also participated in the round.

In India’s ongoing digital revolution, robust data centres are of paramount importance. Because the construction and maintenance of data centres is a capital-intensive activity, an increasing number of businesses in India are  enlisting the help of data centre service providers. Bridge Data Centres’ latest investment is likely aimed at consolidating its presence in this fast-evolving market.