Manthan Systems Secures Series B Financing From Fidelity International, IDG Ventures and DFJ ePlanet Ventures

BANGALORE, India and CHICAGO, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- Manthan Plans to Use Funding to Target Leadership Position in Retail Business Intelligence & Analytics

Manthan Systems, a leading provider of Business Intelligence and Analytical solutions for the retail and consumer packaged goods industries today announced that it has secured Series B funding. The investment, with a funding of upto $15 million, was led by Fidelity International. Participation by existing investors IDG Ventures India and DFJ ePlanet Ventures in this recent round is an endorsement of Manthan's impressive growth and potential, and the new paradigm Manthan is creating in Retail analytics.

As a result of this funding, Mr. Raj Dugar, Managing Director at FIL Capital Advisors (India), Fidelity International's private equity advisory company in India, has joined Manthan's board of directors.

"We believe Manthan is well positioned to make a significant impact on the global retail landscape as the industry steps up value realization through its usage of Business Intelligence and Analytics. Manthan's best-in-class products address retailers' increasing need to compete on analytics, currently a top priority for retailers worldwide. Under Atul Jalan's leadership, Manthan has the potential to be a major software products company and we are excited to participate in its growth," said Mr. Dugar.

Mr. Atul Jalan, Founder & CEO, Manthan Systems said, "We believe Manthan is uniquely positioned to deliver the analytical maturity and edge that most retailers are aspiring to. Our confidence stems from our products' capabilities and our unique deployment model that delivers on industry leading ROI, and is reinforced by the market traction we are experiencing today. Our charge for global leadership in the retail business intelligence and analytics sector is best summed up as: '8Q21 - Eight Quarters to No. 1.' We value the added experience and competence that the Fidelity team will bring towards the achievement of this objective.

The funding would help fuel important investments in this direction, particularly in augmenting our sales and delivery presence across key markets, scaling our product organization -to match our growth, and also capitalizing on suitable inorganic growth opportunities."

Manthan develops and markets a suite of software products and synergistic services to global retailers enabling them to take data-driven business decisions. The ARC suite comprises of products like Merchandising Analytics, Finance Analytics, Customer Analytics, Supplier Collaboration & Analytics. The Manthan BI platform delivers enterprise-wide analytics capability with dramatically superior performance when compared with competitive options. With a hybrid portfolio of products and services, Manthan is able to offer end-to-end data warehousing and business intelligence capabilities to its customers. Retailers have traditionally not leveraged their data rich environment to drive decision making. Manthan provides retailers with the tools they need to measure performance, pinpoint the source of exceptions and understand the relationships between customer groups, products, promotions and multiple channels. Businesses that have implemented Manthan's products have seen improved margins, customer retention, inventory efficiency, promotion effectiveness and wallet share while having reduced markdowns.

Manthan has deployed its out-of-the-box integrated retail intelligence suite for several global retail and consumer packaged goods customers. "Many leading global retail market players across all segments of retail have adopted our solutions, leading to significant improvements in efficiency and profitability, borne out of the intelligent, data driven decision making made possible by our solutions." Atul concludes.

About Manthan Systems

Manthan Systems produces cutting edge analytic solutions for global Retail and CPG organizations. Manthan's breakthrough solutions, under the ARC product portfolio, transform the way retailers deploy, adopt and use analytics for strategic advantage. ARC spans the entire spectrum of retail decision making delivering role-based, advanced analytics and performance management, with products for merchandising analytics, financial analytics, customer analytics, supplier collaboration analytics and enterprise retail BI. These award winning products provide a significant edge to a retailer's analytical capability and maturity. The solution is delivered in a failsafe, time-bound, cost-effective manner, and encourages enterprise-wide adoption of BI and analytics. Manthan has deployed ARC across a wide range of retail segments and formats, having transformed decision making for some of the biggest names in retail across the globe.

About Fidelity International

Fidelity International has offices in over 20 countries across Europe and Asia-Pacific. The venture capital arm of Fidelity International seeks to actively invest predominately its own proprietary capital principally in high-quality, high-growth companies across multiple sectors including infrastructure, healthcare, technology financial services and manufacturing. FIL Capital Advisors (India) Private Limited is Fidelity International's private equity advisory company in India.

About IDG Ventures India

IDG Ventures India is a US$150 Million early-stage venture capital fund investing in technology-related product and services companies. The fund is part of IDG Ventures, a global network of technology venture funds with over $3.7 billion under management, over 220 investee companies and 10 offices across Asia and North America. IDG Ventures makes investments on behalf of its Limited Partners, including its principal investor and sponsor, International Data Group (IDG), the world's largest IT media company. By combining the IDG platform - an unparalleled combination of global publishing, market research (IDC), and conferences and exhibition resources - with years of hands-on experience in early-stage company building, IDG Ventures helps its investee companies understand their markets better and penetrate them faster than their competition.

About DFJ ePlanet Ventures

DFJ ePlanet Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, London, Bangalore, Beijing, and Seoul. ePlanet Ventures has funded over 90 innovative high-growth companies world-wide, including landmark deals Baidu (BIDU), Skype (sold to eBay for approx. US$3B in 2005), and Focus Media (FMCN). DFJ ePlanet is one of the leaders in promoting the cross-border migration of technological innovation, business models and entrepreneurship. The Firm has made investments in sectors such as the Internet (consumer Internet, Internet services and applications), wireless communications and applications, VoIP and other broadband services, entertainment, semiconductor design, life sciences and other emerging services sectors. The firm also seeks to make investments in traditional, established industries where business-model improvements have the power to create category-dominant companies in the world's fastest growing markets.

    Media Contact Details:

    US, Canada & Latin America

    Frank Cuevas
    Director of Business Development
    Manthan Systems
    Contact No. - +1-847-925-5131
    Fax: +1-312-275-8558
    Email Id - media.contact@manthansystems.com

    Western Europe & South Africa

    Steve Barker
    Vice President - UK Operations
    Manthan Systems
    Contact No. +44(0)797-088-6339
    Fax: +44(0)207-691-7480
    Email Id - media.contact@manthansystems.com

    South East Asia & Australia

    Ajith Nayar
    Manager Marketing
    Manthan Systems
    Bangalore
    Contact No. +91-80-2299-0585
    Fax: +91-80-2299-0586
    Email Id - media.contact@manthansystems.com

SOURCE Manthan Systems