GVFL to fund NirmaLabs' start-up

GVFL, the Ahmedabad-based Venture Capital Company, has decided to invest an initial Rs 80 lakh in RapidRadio Solutions Pvt Ltd, a technology start-up spun off from the NirmaLabs incubator programme.

RapidRadio marks GVFL's first investment in a start-up from an academic incubator programme.

RapidRadio Solutions began its operations in 2005 in the area of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology. GVFL will make the seed stage investment from its Rs 27 crore Gujarat IT Fund.

"The RapidRadio investment is a new milestone in our endeavour to provide critical seed stage and early stage funding to innovative start-ups that are poised to take knowledge-based test-marketed ideas into commercial production. We are now stepping forward into campus incubation programmes to identify and nurture promising ideas and entrepreneurs," said Vishnu Varshney, CEO, GVFL.

RFID is considered to be a next generation tool of AIDC technology that facilitates business processes automation.

"RapidRadio with its expertise in RFID technology is focusing on designing, developing, innovating and deploying RFID hardware solutions. With the funding, we will be deploying funds for expanding our product range to include ultra-high frequency (UHF-900 MHz) products and also developing Active RFID-based products," said Dhaval Kotecha, CEO of RapidRadio.

Rapid Radio is the sixth investment from the Rs 27-crore Gujarat IT Fund. GVFL had previously invested in Net4Nuts, Ecube, Icenet, Anupam Globalsoft and Convergelabs from the fund.