The corporate venturing unit of Wipro, a US-based IT consulting and outsourcing company, has invested $5m for a minority stake in US-based Axeda, a provider of cloud-based service and software and machine-to-machine (M2M) software application developer. Wipro made the investment to capitalise on what it believes is a rapidly evolving M2M market.
Wipro, which is already an Axeda ‘platinum’ partner, will receive preferential benefits, such as dedicated access to Axeda trained technical resources and premium support and services to drive Machine-to-Machine (M2M) initiatives.
“Wipro’s investment in Axeda is driven by growing demand and interest for M2M solutions across verticals from global customers and partners alike. We find that customers prefer to work with mature partners like Wipro and Axeda who have the capability and experience to plan, build and integrate M2M solutions that are able to demonstrate quick business results,” said Dr. Anurag Srivastava, Chief Technology Officer, Wipro.
The Wipro and Axeda portfolio is being built and tested in Wipro’s M2M Center of Excellence in Bangalore. Assets include an integrated M2M stack, various deployment models and reference applications for the telecommunications, health and life sciences, manufacturing, and energy and utility markets.
In 2009 Wipro closed a $5m series B funding round with lead investor, JMI Equity. At the time it also secured $4m in venture debt from Canada-based MMV Financial. Its series A funding has not been made public.