Web Werks raises $150 mn from Iron Mountain to fuel India expansion

Iron Mountain will be majority stakeholder in the venture, deal will allow Web Werks to speed up expansion across Indian cities and build capacity

Mumbai-based data centre firm Web Werks said storage and information management company Iron Mountain will invest $150 million primary equity over the next two years in Web Werks. 

Post-investment, Iron Mountain will be the majority stakeholder in the venture. Once completed, this transaction will allow Web Werks to accelerate its expansion across different Indian cities and build capacity. The transaction is expected to close within the next 90 days, subject to customary closing conditions.

"We have 15 data centres worldwide, 11 in North America, three in Europe, and one in Singapore. We are always on the lookout to expand our footprint geographically. Asia is one of the key markets that we are looking at, because Asia is forecast to grow tremendously over the next five years. Since Iron Mountain has only one data center in Asia...India is one of our first priority to expand into because that is what a lot of our customers are actually looking at," said  Michael Goh, General Manager Asia Pacifc at Iron Mountain Data Centers.

The investment enables Web Werks to expand its operations in its three existing markets immediately and expand into Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. Web Werks houses six worldwide Points of Presence (POPs), provides 4 megawatts (MW) of existing capacity, supports over 6,000 servers and supports 850 clients. 

"What we bring on the table is hyper connected data centers, which is very well interconnected. And you know, Iron Mountain comes with hyperscale experience, which we do not have...," said  Nikhil Rathi, CEO, Web Werks.

He added that given Iron Mountain's expertise and Web Werks' understanding of the Indian market, more facilities could be up and running in the next 15 to 18 months.

“This investment reflects Iron Mountain’s commitment to invest in high growth, good return global markets to continue to meet our customer’s requirements.  The India data centre market is projected to grow exponentially in the coming years and Iron Mountain is excited to be an early mover into a market where the demand is high and the supply is low.” stated Mark Kidd, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Iron Mountain Data Centers.  “Web Werks has a highly respected and seasoned leadership team; we are delighted to not only support their continued growth and success but also to provide our existing Iron Mountain data center customers access to this growing and thriving market.”

Pharmaceuticals, stock broking, insurance, gaming and over the top streaming services are areas that saw high demand for data centres as people started working from home during the pandemic, said Rathi, and this is only set to go higher as more and more organisations become digital. 

Deutsche Bank was the exclusive financial advisor to Web Werks for the deal, Khaitan & Co and Ernst & Young acted as the exclusive advisors to Web Werks.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and PwC India acted as advisors to Iron Mountain on this transaction, Jones Lang LaSalle acted as an introducing partner to both parties.