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    After $900 mn exit, Directi to Put $110 mn in newer ventures

    Synopsis

    Directi also looking to buy 1 lakh square feet space in Bengaluru.

    ET Bureau
    MUMBAI: Diversified technology company Directi plans to spend $110 million in four newer ventures and is looking to buy a 1 lakh square feet building in central Bengaluru to accommodate its expansion.

    Brothers Bhavin and Divyank Turakhia founded Directi in 1998 when they were still in their teens. They sold their web presence business to Nasdaq-listed Endurance Group in 2014 for $160 million. Last month, the two brothers announced it was selling their US-based adtech venture to a consortium of Chinese buyers for about $900 million.

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    The company's financial plans for its new businesses calling app Ringo, communication app Flock, digital tax saving solutions business Zeta and internet domain name registration company Radix predate last month's exit.

    "None of our plans for our businesses has ever been dependent on selling some other part of the company. That way our sales have never been planned; we have always said that we will be happy to continue to run our companies," Directi CEO Bhavin Turakhia said.

    The company plans to invest $110 million in Flock, Zeta, Radix and Ringo in the current year and the next. In 2015-16, it invested $32 million in Radix, $4 million in Zeta and $7 million in Flock. Zeta will receive an additional $25 million, Flock will get $$23 million, Ringo $44 million and Radix $18 million.

    Turakhia said he had set high growth targets for Flock, Zeta and Radix and that all three are already growing faster than he had expec ted. As a result the company will in crease its hiring target for the year, he said.

    "We said two months ago that we would hire abo ut 1,000 people this year. But we were just talking that we will have to raise that number," Turakhia said. The company is yet to finalise a revised figure though, he said.

    Owing to its rapid growth, the company is running out of space at its rented offices and is now looking at buying a building of its own in central Bengaluru, he said. "Every year-and-a-half we end up running out of space. I was just told that we have had to take an additional 17,000 sq ft in Bangalore and these things sometimes happen without my even knowing it," Turakhia said.
    ( Originally published on Sep 12, 2016 )
    The Economic Times

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