Cisco leads $60 mn investment in application services firm Avi Networks

Cisco Investments, the venture capital arm of US-based Internet networking major Cisco, has led an investment of $60 million in application services platform Avi Networks. Investors such as DAG Ventures, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Menlo Ventures also participated in the round.

Cisco resells the Avi Vantage Platform in the global market and Avi integrates with Cisco ACI, Cisco’s intent-based networking and automation solution for the data centre.

“We believe Avi Networks has enabled customers to scale network automation and application delivery across both private and public clouds,” said Rob Salvagno, vice president, Corporate Development at Cisco.

Cisco has stepped up its investments in India over the last few years. It has opened a Cisco Cyber Range Lab in its Gurgaon facility to provide specialised technical training workshops on cybersecurity, a Global Delivery Centre and a Security Operations Centre in Pune and also plans to set up its first manufacturing unit in India. 

The US-based firm had also announced a series of strategic investments of over $100 million, including a commitment to train 250,000 students in India by 2020. Besides, it has already invested in over 25 companies so far.

The latest round brings Avi Networks’ total funding to $115 million. The software offers easier management, faster performance, deeper analytics, and more powerful automation in data centres and cloud. With the global application delivery controller market expected to grow at a CAGR of 5 per cent over the period of 2017 – 2023, the demand for Avi Networks’ services are rising, helping it achieve more than 300 per cent year-over-year growth last year.