An article on CRM :

CRM next raises Rs 42 crore from Norwest Venture Partners

BANGALORE: Delhi-based enterprise software companyCRMnext has raised Rs 42 crore in series A round fundingfrom Norwest Venture Partners. The company provides cloud-based customer relationship management for enterprises.

"The CRM space has been commoditised in the past few years with most players focusing on the SMB segment. The funding will enable us to invest into our deep verticalised enterprise class CRM solution by imbibing best practices for nine industry verticals," said Singh who in 1998 also founded qMGN, a company offering advanced advertising delivery in the online space.

Founded by Nishant Singh, 39, in 2002, CRMnext launched its product in 2007 and has been growing 100% year-over-year ever since. "Global CRM market is about $18 billion compared to $128 million market in India. We therefore see a huge growth opportunity in global markets like US, Europe and Australia," Singh said.

CRM next, which offers cloud-based customer relationship management solution, will use the funds to expand operations in the US, Europe and Australia. The company, which is already profitable, started operations in middle east, south Asia and Africa last year.

"At NVP we have invested in a variety of verticals including retail, healthcare and education, and with CRMNext, we found a great company doing the same in the BFSI space," said Mohan Kumar, executive director, NVP India. NVP has also invested in CRM companies Capillary Technologies and Manthan Systems. Capillary technologies raised $15 million in September 2012 from Sequoia Capital, NVP andQualcomm Ventures.

NVP invested $15 million in Manthan Systems, a retail-focused data analytics firm in early 2012. CRMnext's solutions are now being used by HDFC Bank, GE, Pfizer, Reliance Mutual Funds among others.