id8labs acquires eDesign Tree India

* Launches id8Labs Inc.

id8labs, India's leading interactive and digital marketing services company, has acquired the business franchise of eDesign Tree Inc in India. eDesign Tree was co-founded in 2003 by Raj Shekhawat, serial entrepreneur and senior marketing professional in the USA and Amit Shrivastava-earlier principal officer Apollo Hospitals.

eDesign Tree India has USD one million business franchise with clients like Yahoo, HP, iflex, Infosys, HCL Technologies, IBM, Satyam, Subex, Sasken, Insilica and Cellstream. eDesign Tree India, based out of Bangalore, specializes in providing interactive and digital marketing services to the IT industry. According to an IAMAI study, of the Rs 220 crore online advertising market, the IT industry is the second biggest spender with a 13 per cent share.

id8labs is also partnering with eDesign Tree Inc to launch id8labs Inc. in the USA. Amit Shrivastava, co-founder of eDesign Tree, would be taking over as CEO id8labs Inc.

"We plan to emerge as the largest player in Asia through a combination of rapid organic growth in India, robust expansion plans into neighbouring markets and aggressive inorganic growth initiatives to boost our competencies and revenues," says Amit Tripathi, Managing Director id8Labs.

id8labs plans to invest USD five Million Dollars in the next 12-18 months through internal accruals, promoter funding and strategic investments to expand its franchise in Indian and global markets through offices in Dubai, Singapore and Philadelphia.

"The eDesign Tree initiative gives us strong leverage in the IT domain and also opens up outsourcing opportunities from the US market due to the presence of eDesign Tree Inc," Mr Tripathi added.

"id8labs is the first Indian interactive and digital marketing services company to launch its operations in the USA. We are targeting to tap outsourcing creative, strategy and Search engine marketing assignments of USD 10 million by 2010," added Amit Shrivastava, CEO id8Labs Inc.

id8labs is India's first fully integrated Online and Digital Media agency, offering Online Creative and Content solutions, Search Engine Marketing, Behavioural Targeting & CRM applications. With capitalised billings of more than Rs 35 crore, id8Labs is among with top 3 players in the industry with clients across all major verticals with clients like UTI MF, Maruti Suzuki, HSBC, GoAir, Colgate, Crompton Greaves, Philips, Manipal Group, RPG Group, Fullerton India, Essar & DuPont.