Chandigarh software firm merges arms

Chandigarh-based Pugmarks Design and SEO (search engine optimisation) Rank, a web application and software development company, has consolidated its two arms into Red Alkemi.

The new brand will provide all such services under one roof, which were earlier bifurcated.

The company, set up by Anuja and Atul Gupta in the 1990s from a studio in their house, is now a leading web design and development company of the north. The couple had set up Pugmarks as a design company during their graduation days at the local Government College for Arts.

Beginning with advertisement for the print media and production of below-the-line collateral, the company now offers website design, e-commerce development, software development, graphic design, search engine optimisation, link building, pay-per-click management, visitor conversion enhancement and web visibility services.

Over the period, the company has acquired 25 associate partners in the UK, the US, Europe and Australia.

"From a 20-member team and no customers in 2002, we have grown into a strong and well-knit team of over 110 people in recent times," said Atul Gupta.

In the past two years, the company provided services to over 300 customers worldwide, including companies like America-owned Zimmerman Sign, Sports.com, Proacousticsusa.com and HEDGECO.net among others.

According to Atul Gupta, the employee base would be doubled by March 2006. Over the next four years, an incremental investment of Rs 20 crore would be pumped in through the internal accruals, Gupta added.

The company had projected a turnover of Rs 15 lakh for the year 2005-06, Gupta told Business Standard. He said the customer base was likely to double from 300 to about 600 by the end of the current financial year.

Gupta also said the company planned to expand and might acquire land in either of the information technology (IT) parks scheduled to come up in Mohali and Kishangarh. The company had a number of export orders for the next six months with enquiries from overseas enterprises, Gupta added.

He, however, said the company had no plans to work for the Indian market, since it was set up as a 100 per cent export-oriented unit.