Bharti Airtel acquires 25% stakes in SD-WAN startup Lavelle Networks; stock jumps over 2% intraday

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Monday announced an agreement to acquire around a 25 per cent equity stake in Bengaluru based technology startup, Lavelle Networks, the company said in a filing to the exchanges. It mentioned that the agreement is subject to applicable statutory approvals. 

According to the statement, “The home-grown Lavelle Networks specialises in Software-defined Wide Area Network solutions, spread in a range of industry segments. Its platform has connected thousands of Indian enterprises from the largest financial institutions to e-commerce networks.” 

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As more enterprise move to cloud-based applications to serve their customers in a digital-first eco system, they require on-demand and reliable network connectivity, Airtel said while explaining the need of technology the startup has come up with. 

“SD-WAN market in India is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 55 per cent in 2022-2026. As per F&S End-User Survey 2021, about 62 per cent of enterprises plan to deploy SD-WAN across their organization in the next 1-2 years.” Apalak Ghosh, Associate Director and Head of ICT, Frost & Sullivan South Asia said in comment. 

Airtel will offer software defined connectivity solution from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform, which addresses the emerging connectivity requirements of enterprises. 

Airtel Business serves over one million businesses through its integrated portfolio of – connectivity, conferencing, cloud & data centers, cyber security, IoT, Ad-tech, CPaaS (Airtel IQ), and more. It is the market leader in India’s enterprise connectivity segment. 

The stock of the company has jumped over 2 per cent to touch day’s high level of Rs 731.7 per share on the BSE, as compared to 1.77 per cent surge in the S&P BSE Sensex. The counter has been trading higher since the deal with Google and surged almost 5 per cent in the last 5 sessions.