Tech
India cloud startup relocates to US amid limited local support
Nevales Networks developed and sold its first products in India, secured millions of dollars from local investors, has decided to relocate its headquarters to the greener pastures of Silicon Valley.
Indian startup Nevales Networks is moving its head office to Silicon Valley in order to pursue new business opportunities, which can't be accessed from its current location.
The cloud security company's CEO and co-founder Kaushik Thakkar told ZDNet the move would allow the company to tap into the more active, and lucrative, United States market.
Nevales remotely manages a company's security network over the cloud, via a small device which connects to the network. The dust-proof, weather-proof unit was developed in India, and over 1,000 boxes have been sold to 350 local customers.
However, he said it wasn't possible to service global customers from India.
"You can't have a global startup from India. We chose India because, three and a half years back when we started the company, Europe was a mess, and the United States was a consumer market. Now we're graduating," said Thakkar, who is usually based in Silicon Valley but is in town this week to oversee the transition.
"It's difficult to do from India because even Indians don't believe in Indian products. System integrators got excited when we told them we are moving to Silicon Valley. It gives you a global reach, more credibility, and access to more funding."
Despite raising US$500,000 in seed funding from local angel investors in 2010, and subsequently "millions" of dollars from local venture capital firm Seed Fund, Thakkar said that Indian investors are still too conservative.
"Indian venture capital firms know e-commerce well, but very few have done high tech start-ups," he added.
Indian venture capital firms have tipped US$853 million in 53 e-commerce companies over the past three years.
Nevales currently employs 70 staff and has been directly selling to customers but the headcount will drop to less than 50 as it instead partners with American service providers to drive revenues.
Customers pay upwards of US$500 per annum to access Nevales's cloud security services.