Cloud company Deskera raises over US$60m, crosses $100m in revenue in FY17

Shashank Dixit , CEO of Deskera, said the funding will be used for research and development as well as better integration of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system onto the Networked Trade Platform (NTP). PHOTO: BT

SINGAPORE - Cloud company Deskera on Tuesday (Nov 27) announced that it has raised over US$60 million from a host of investors, including Jungle Ventures, Cisco Investments, Tembusu Partners, Susquehanna International Group and Innoven Capital.

Founded in Singapore in 2008, Deskera offers a cloud-based platform to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region. The platform helps SMEs to run their businesses, track their accounts and finances, manage their customers and even to hire and manage employees.

Besides SMEs, Deskera has also bagged clients such as Sushi Tei and Starbucks.

Shashank Dixit, chief executive officer of Deskera, told The Business Times that the funding will be used for research and development as well as better integration of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system onto the Networked Trade Platform (NTP). The NTP is Singapore's new one-stop digital trade platform serving as a single window for all customs and trade-related services.

Deskera also aims to add more innovative solutions to its portfolio and continue its expansion into the US, Indonesia, Australia and the Philippines.

Along with the funding, the firm also announced the launch of Desk, a B2B commerce platform for SMEs. Desk is the first integrated B2B platform for SMEs that brings together vendors, logistics, payments and customs under one platform, said Deskera.

"Desk gives SMEs the ability to buy, sell and transact online. It exists as an online B2B marketplace for SMEs, powered by Deskera's leading inventory management technology," said Mr Dixit.

One of Deskera's largest shareholders is Tembusu Partners, which invested in the company through the Tembusu ICT Fund I. Before the latest funding round, Tembusu held about a 10 per cent stake in Deskera.

Brijesh Pande, managing partner of Tembusu ICT Fund I, told BT that Deskera is one of the most promising enterprise technology companies in Asia, with a revenue that has grown almost eight-fold in the last three years.

"We are the earliest institutional investor in the company and remain confident it has all the ingredients to become a tech unicorn," he said.

Deskera drew in $42 million in revenue in financial year 2016. Giving an update, Mr Dixit said the firm crossed its $100 million target in FY2017, which he said was a hugely successful year due to huge growth in India and South-east Asia.

Mr Dixit told The Business Times last year that Deskera will eventually go for a listing, which could be on Singapore's mainboard. On Tuesday, he said: "It is too early to comment on a listing at the moment. Deskera's focus remains on assisting SMEs in the Asean region with solutions such as Desk as well as greater integration with NTP."

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