Titan picks up stake in Innoviti

Company to initially pick up 5% stake and later increase up to 15% in two years

Titan Industries through its affiliates has picked up a minority equity stake in the Bangalore-based Innoviti Embedded Solutions, a start-up in the consumer wireless products space.

Innoviti is a three-year-old firm which has built products like a wireless payment terminal for swiping cash cards in front of the customer to avoid frauds and another product which enables one with a laptop to dial-in to an internet connection even without a wi-fi access.

Titan is initially picking up a 5 per cent stake which will increase up to 15 per cent in two years.

According to market indications, Titan is looking at leveraging wireless technologies by offering products like data storage in watches and facilitating live feeds (such as stock quotes, sport scores, weather among others) into watches. "There is a whole host of ideas Titan is working on, and this investment is expected to leverage such products in the future," market sources indicate.

"Titan Industries is excited about its investment in Innoviti and looks forward to the relationship developing into several strategic initiatives in the consumer wireless space," said Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan.

He added that through the relationship, Titan will enhance its technology reach into the wireless space "� one of the most important innovations to affect a consumer in the 21st century.

Innoviti has been shipping its products over the past nine months and has so far sold around 2,000 units each of the two products. Verifone is the global distributor for its wireless payment terminal product.

According to a statement from Titan, Innoviti is today working on next generation wireless technologies, especially those targeted at smart personal objects and next generation mobile networks.

"The present investment by Titan Industries is a strategic one aimed at further enhancing Innoviti's national and global market reach," said Rajeev Agrawal, CEO, Innoviti.

"We are proud to have Titan as an investor and look forward to this relationship helping us propel our growth further," added Agrawal.