Kedaara, a leading private equity firm, announced that it intends to bring together GAVS Technologies Limited (“GAVS”) and Great Software Laboratory Private Limited (“GS Lab”) to create a leading Digital Product Engineering and AI-led Digital Transformation platform with focus on Healthcare, Communications, Networking, BFS and Fintech. The combined entity will have close to 4,000 technical employees with operations in the US, UK, Middle East, and India, and delivery labs out of Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Baroda in India. Kedaara had acquired majority stakes in GS Lab and GAVS over the past three months.
GAVS is an AI-led digital transformation company that focuses on differentiated managed services, analytics, and product engineering in Healthcare, BFS, Retail and other verticals. GS Lab provides high end digital product engineering services and acts as the innovation engine for ISVs, digital-native startups, and enterprises globally, enabling them to develop and manage new digital products. Both companies have grown at a stellar rate of 20%+ over the last five years (10x+ in the previous 10 years).
Sunish Sharma, Co-CEO & Managing Partner of Kedaara, and Parin Mehta, Managing Director of Kedaara, said, “Digital transformation and product engineering are key investment themes for us, and we are very excited to play this theme through our partnership with GAVS and GS Lab. The combination of GAVS and GS Lab will have digital engineering and AI led digital transformation capabilities across a broad array of new-age technologies and will allow them to tap into rapidly growing demand for adoption of digital technology across various sectors globally.”
Kedaara will further help accelerate the growth for the combined platform through:
- Leveraging their global relationships, as well those of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (“CD&R”), a global private equity firm and JV partner of Kedaara
- Continuing to foster innovation and competency development in leading-edge technologies like AI, Cloud, Analytics to meet the digital needs of customers
- Making investments for enhancing the global client reach out program and focus on client centricity through the combined entity
The combined entity will have access to decades of rich experience from Pramod Bhasin, Operating Partner at Kedaara, and Keith Pitts, Operating Advisor at CD&R and ex-Vice Chairman, Tenet Health, both of whom will be on the Board of the combined entity.
Pramod had led the carve-out of Genpact from GE and grew it into a US$ 3.5B market cap entity as its President and CEO. On this occasion, Pramod Bhasin said, “Digital is becoming the core differentiator for businesses across the board globally by enabling them to become more agile. Both GAVS and GS Lab have complimentary and unique expertise in this area, with a deep understanding of their respective industries, which we plan to offer to our customers and accelerate the timelines for them to achieve their digital transformation goals.”
Keith Pitts said, “Abundance of untapped data is likely to drive IT adoption especially in the space of cloud migration, data analytics, and security services. With a strong DNA of innovation-led culture and customer centricity, the combined entity is well-positioned to be one of the premier digital-transformation focused service providers globally.”
Sumit Ganguli will be the Group CEO and lead the next phase of growth for the combined business. Deepak Doegar, who has joined GAVS, will be appointed the Group CFO and will spearhead the integration initiatives. Before this, Deepak was the CFO of JCB India and prior to that, has 18+ years of experience across GE and Genpact. The co-founders and CXOs of GS Lab will provide their support through the transition period.
Sumit Ganguli, the Group CEO, said, “We are excited by the immense possibilities that this combination and the partnership with Kedaara and CD&R present, in terms of Digital IT transformation and solutions in the growth sectors and the board room connects with some of the largest clients across the world. Our focus will be to create a vibrant combined entity that will enable our employees to meet with their professional aspirations and build on the culture of technological innovation and client centricity. We will jointly work towards our magnificent obsession – to create a compelling future for our employees, clients and stake holders.”
Shridhar Shukla and Sunil Gaitonde, the co-founders of GS Lab, said, “GAVS and GS Lab represent the best of breed in digital product engineering services and enterprise digital transformation services from India. Both organizations have complementary entrepreneurial, and innovation-mindset cultures focused on client centricity. The combination will offer a comprehensive suite of services across a broad range of clients and is very well positioned to be one of the premier digital engineering service providers based out of India, enabling employees across the board to realize their full potential.”
The integration process is expected to be completed over the next few months and will be subject to the applicable regulatory and other approvals.
