MUMBAI: Ant works, the BPO firm started by former Infosys executive Asheesh Mehra, has raised its three-year revenue goal to $50 million on higher demand and the year-old company is scouting for more acquisitions.
Antworks, which started functioning last June, initially expected to do about $8-million worth of business in its first year, $18 million and $30 million in its second and third year, respectively. But as demand for its services outstripped early expectations the Singapore-headquartered firm has higher targets going ahead.
“We closed the first year at about $11million in re venue. And we have already committed pro jects worth $21-million in revenue just at the start of the second year. So we think we should be able to get to $50 million in revenue by the third year,” Mehra told.
Mehra, who used to head Infosys’ BPO operations in Japan and the Middle East, attributed the strong growth to the fact that the company’s policies are transparent. “We have completely open pricing. I am not selling a black box solution. We break down every line item and show clients where we are making the money.And then we can have a discussion on the margin if they want,” Mehra said.
Antworks, which offers services in healthcare, banking and financial services space, bought US-based Benchmark Systems last year.The acquisition brought 400 customers across 40 us states and more deals are likely. “We are open to more acquisitions. But these will be small in size and will add specific capabilites,” Mehra said.
He added that the company was looking at entering three new geographies next year and was looking at setting up a delivery centre in Europe. “As we expand, we will be needing more language skills. That is why we would need a centre there. But our growth will be non-linear. We do not want to add a set number of new employees for every additional million dollars. That is the old way and it does not work anymore.”
Mehra added that the Indian BPO industry had two-to-five years before it truly started being disrupted by automation.
