Talisma raises $5m from Oak Investment

Talisma Corporation, the Bangalore-based leading provider of customer lifecycle management solutions, has closed a $5 million financing deal by the US-based Oak Investment Partners.

Talisma plans to utilise the fresh capital to develop next-generation customer life cycle solutions, besides stepping up sales, marketing and customer service initiatives.

As a growth-oriented private equity firm with $4.2 billion in committed capital, Oak invests in enterprise application and infrastructure software, telecom equipment, financial, healthcare and retail services.

Oak managing partner Fred Harman declared that Forbes Global 2000 firms were looking for aggressive sales, marketing and customer support solutions.

"Organisations are aware that integrated customer communications represent a great opportunity to enhance revenue at lower costs.

"Our goal is to invest in organisations demonstrating thought leadership and domain expertise in these markets," Harman said in a statement, released in Bangalore on Wednesday.

According to IDC research, businesses will spend $76 billion on e-customer services by 2005. The Gartner Group estimates that about 70 per cent of call centres to feature Internet integration by 2007, and Jupiter Media Metrix expects 67 million people to use chat for service in 2005.

Talisma CEO Dan Vetras said as the business landscape continue to be complex, integration of pre/post-sales customer information, knowledge management and reporting helped to increase customer loyalty and retention.

"The latest funding is a measure of confidence enjoyed by the company from the investor community in spite of dampening investment climate.

"Oak's commitment to the equity round is an endorsement of our leadership in the space," Vetras claimed.

Meanwhile, the company announced that its chairman Pradeep Singh had resigned as founder-chairman to focus entirely on Aditi Corporation as its CEO.

Talisma also disclosed that Ranjan Chak, till now vice-president of Oracle India operations, has been appointed chairman of its board of directors.

Chak had recently joined Oak as a venture partner after a diverse 20-year career in information technology, including 15 years in senior management roles in international operations.

"At Oak, Chak will focus on helping its portfolio companies tap the offshore talent. He will also assist in developing investment opportunities to leverage the country's strength in IT and services industries," Harman affirmed.

Talisma's global customers include Microsoft, Coast Capital Savings, Sony, Click 2 Learn, MWB, Aviva Life Insurance and Dell.