Mistral to raise $10mn

Mistral Software Private Limited, a Rs 48-crore product realisation company operating in the embedded space, is planning to raise funds to the tune of $10 million. This apart, Mistral is looking at acquiring a company operating in a similar space this year.

Addressing the media, Anees Ahmed, president and chief executive officer of Mistral Software Private Limited, said, "We are exploring opportunities of raising funds for future growth. We will be finalising the route within the next three months. It is likely to be via private placement of equity."

Meanwhile, Mistral is in negotiations with a few companies for fuelling its inorganic growth. "We are looking at companies that are operating in a similar space," Ahmed said, adding that they were looking at revenues of Rs 72 crore this year with an acquisition and Rs 60 crore without.

Mistral provides end-to-end professional services and reference designs in the embedded space. It has a development centre in Bangalore and has set up its second centre in Hyderabad.

The company employs more than 280 people and is planning to up that number to 450 in the next year. "In Hyderabad, we have around 30 people today and plan to grow to more than 100 within the next one-two years," Ahmed said.

The Bangalore-based company has invested around Rs 3 crore in Hyderabad so far and sees its investment increasing to Rs 8 crore-Rs 10 crore in the next 2-3 years. One of the reasons for Mistral to set up a development centre in Hyderabad is to get a firm foothold in the local market.

Its existing client base in the city includes Bharat Electronics, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and HelloSoft among others. Mistral receives 9 per cent of its revenues from intellectual property and products and expects this to increase to 30 per cent in the next two years.