Bangalore, February 13, 2008: IDG Ventures India, a $150 Million early-stage technology venture capital fund, today announced its investment of $3 million in Aujas Networks Pvt. Ltd., a pure-play Digital Security services startup. Bangalore based Aujas will address a global security services market currently over $17 billion in size and growing annually at over 17%. This growth rate is far ahead of most global IT services and is even more attractive in the context of this segment being expertise dependent and premium commanding.

Mr. Srinivas Rao, Mr. Sameer Shelke* and Ms. Manjula Sridhar, a team of highly experienced security professionals from the industry have co-founded Aujas. The founding team has spent collectively over four decades in Network and Security industry. Earlier, as Director of Network Solutions, Rao scaled the company from its early days to becoming India’s leading IT Infrastructure solution integrator, which resulted in acquisition by IBM Global Services in 2005.

Aujas is offering high-end security services across a broad range of technologies including core wireless networks, VoIP and cyber forensics. Key differentiators of its security services are that they are significantly productized and are specialized domain specific in key sectors like Telecom, BFSI and Defense.

Mr. Patrick McGovern, Founder & Chairman, International Data Group said about this valuable addition to the portfolio, “The Aujas investment fits very well with the fund’s mandate of backing early stage technology investments in companies with industry leading senior management talent and with focused operations in high growth sectors.” He added, “IDG globally has tremendous wealth of relationships and knowledge in the Information Security world through its conferences, trade shows, IDC research as well as Chief Security Officer (CSO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) publications. IDG Ventures India’s strategy for this sector leverages the global platform.”

“The successful closure of this deal with a keenly short listed A-grade founding team validates the potential of our Entrepreneur-In-Residence model. Aujas is our second investment in the promising Information Security space. The company has hit the ground running with a channel partnership MoU already inked with iViZ, our first investment in Information Security software product sector from India.” said Mr. Sudhir Sethi, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, IDG Ventures, India.

The company plans to utilize the investment to build its sales presence in India, Middle East, Europe, Asia Pac and North America and to significantly enhance its service offering development initiatives.

“We are uniquely placed to attain a leadership position in the rapidly growing Digital Security Services market. Our industry track record, domain expertise and focus on execution would help customers address security concerns related to technological complexity, increasing sophistication of security attacks, compliance with privacy and security regulations” said Mr. Srinivas Rao, co-founder and CEO of Aujas. Rao added, “The unique operating and investing backgrounds of IDG Ventures India team and their global platform will be a great enabler in Aujas realizing its vision.”

Mr. Sudhir Sethi and Mr. Meenakshisundaram will represent IDG Ventures India on the Board of Directors at Aujas. The Investor Nominee Directors have decades of operating experience in the IT services industry and bring widely acknowledged investment and Board experience having seed funding Mindtree Consulting, Techspan (now Headstrong) and ConnectM. *Sameer Shelke will be joining Aujas shortly.

About Aujas Networks Pvt. Ltd.

Aujas Networks Pvt. Ltd. offers digital security services to global clients with the objective of “Enabling Digital Defense”. The company is co-founded by a team of highly experienced security professionals from the industry and seed funded by IDG Ventures India.

It is a Pure-Play Digital Security provider offering high-end services across a broad range of technologies including core wireless networks, VoIP and cyber forensics. Aujas also offers specialized domain specific security services in Telecom and BFSI sectors.

Vision: “To be the best-in-class, pure-play provider of advanced security technologies”

Mission: “To create a differentiated and scalable eco-system of people, processes and technology to help customers minimize and mitigate Digital Security risk”

For more information, please visit www.aujas.com

Contact Information

Mr. Srinivas Rao
Chief Executive Officer
Aujas Networks Pvt. Ltd.
Cell: +91 99 800 79503
Email: raoms@aujas.com

About IDG Ventures

IDG Ventures is a global network of venture capital funds with over $2 billion under management and a portfolio of over 220 companies built over the last 15 years. The IDG Ventures network is comprised of six independent partnerships managing funds in North America and Asia. Each partnership makes investments on behalf of its limited partners, including International Data Group (IDG), the world’s largest IT media company.

By combining the IDG platform – an unparalleled combination of global publishing, market research (IDC), and conferences and exhibition resources – with years of hands-on experience in early-stage company building, each IDG Ventures fund helps companies understand their markets better and penetrate them faster than their competition.

IDG Ventures India manages a US$150 Million venture capital fund focused on helping entrepreneurs grow innovative companies on a global basis. IDGV India believes the market for technology products and services in India, the proven value of India as an offshore resource base and the entrepreneurial spirit and talent of its people, create an extremely bright future for venture capital investing in the country.

IDG Ventures India’s portfolio consists of Manthan Systems, Kreeda Games, ConnectM, iViZ, 3D Solid Compression, Perfint and Aujas Networks.

For more information, please visit www.idgventures.com