Comat Technologies to raise $15 million

Comat Technologies (P) Ltd, a Bangalore-based 10-year-old e-governance solutions provider, is looking to raise $15 million as part of its second round funding over the next two years. Initially, only $5 million is being raised.

The money will be used to fund its national expansion. In the first round, the company divested 10.5 per cent stake to raise $5.5 million from Hughes and Intel Capital.

Said Sriram Raghavan, president, Comat Technologies, "We have initiated talks with three domestic private equity funds to raise the money. The details of how much equity stake will be offloaded are being finalised and we wish to close the deal by mid-November."

He said the company has chalked out a Rs 200-crore plan to expand the business all across the country. While Rs 60 crore is being raised through PE funds, the balance will be debt from banks and financial institutions.

The company is executing e-governance projects in Karnataka, Haryana, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. Comat has also bid for projects in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

The company intends to open 10,000 kiosks across the country in the next two years. Each kiosk will see an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.8 lakh.

Comat, in association with the government of Karnataka, has implemented projects like the Bhoomi project (digitisation of land records) and the Nemmadi project (setting up of telecentres to provide government services to the rural folk).

It has till date operationalised 800 kiosks under the Nemmadi project in the state. The urban kiosks for Bangalore Urban district are being set up.

The kiosks provide services like land records, issue of certificates, employment exchange services, ration cards, electoral services, birth and death certificates, pension schemes, among many others.

Recently, Comat acquired contracts to set up 1,200 kiosks in Haryana, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Tripura. Comat charges Rs 15 per transaction, of which 25 per cent goes to the state government.

The company serves 40,000 users everyday and collects a revenue of Rs 2.5 crore per month in Karnataka alone. This will double in the next fiscal with the addition of more services, Raghavan said.