Led · Equity · Sep 2008

Aricent is a Palo Alto, California-based global innovation, technology and services company focused on communications. It operates international offices in China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The company serves as a strategic supplier to major infrastructure, application and service providers. Delta Partners, an investment firm in emerging markets, became a shareholder via an undisclosed investment executed through the Delta Partners MENA Telecom Fund, a private equity fund focused on Technology, Media and Telecommunications companies. Delta Partners joins existing investors including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office and The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. The capital infusion is intended to help Aricent accelerate its client base, particularly in the Middle East and African region, which the article identifies as high-growth markets for telecommunications, media and technology. Aricent is a communications software company based in Palo Alto with significant operations in India. It develops communications and mobile software and recently launched Celltop, a mobile client framework aimed at enabling next‑generation content, commerce and communication services across GSM and CDMA networks. The company has about 8,000 employees, of whom 6,500 are based in India, and serves more than 550 customers. Aricent reported revenues of $382 million for fiscal 2008 and, based on Q1 results, the firm may hit revenues of $470 million this year. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate engagements with infrastructure, application and service providers worldwide and to expand business activities in the Middle East. It competes with firms including Infosys, Sasken, IBM, Tech Mahindra and Wipro. Aricent provides communications software spanning network infrastructure to end-user devices. The privately held company is based in Palo Alto, California, and was established in 1991. It serves about 350 customers worldwide, including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments and Virgin Mobile. At the Mobile World Congress the company announced a partnership with NetHawk to create new testing opportunities for communications equipment manufacturers. Aricent was originally founded as Hughes Software Systems and was purchased by Flextronics in 2004; in 2006 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Sequoia Capital bought it and renamed it Aricent. The company recently raised $4.7 million in a sale of regular shares to owners Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Flextronics International.