The Hindu Business Line : Aptara Intl to expand Indian operations

Owing to the increase in demand from corporates, Aptara International Ltd, a US-based publishing technology company, plans to expand its operations in India. For this, it intends to raise PE/VC funds and also come out with an IPO.

The company currently has about 3,000 employees in India operating out of New Delhi, Pune and Dehradun. “We are looking for a fourth centre, preferably in south India, in the near future,” Mr Gurvinder Batra, Chief Technologist and President, Publishing, Aptara, told Business Line on the sidelines of a conference on e-publishing, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The centre would have at least 100 seats and would require a minimum investment of $5-$10 million (Rs 20-40 crore).

The company has so far raised about $70 million (Rs 280 crore) through two rounds of venture capital funding led by the American Capital Group. Blue Water Capital is the other major investor in the company.

Aptara also has plans to go public in the next 16 –18 months, Mr Batra said adding that the company had not started any valuations yet. Given the “consolidation action” in the e-publishing industry, the company would wait and watch the scene before starting valuations, he said.

The company is currently focusing on brand building. In keeping with the broadening of its service lines, last year the company changed its name from Techbooks to Aptara. “We will dedicate most of this year towards creating awareness about the brand,” Mr Batra said.

Last year, Aptara acquired an e-learning company called Maximize Learning and this has resulted in a more comprehensive set of offerings. “Today, publishers want media services (e-learning and other interactive platforms) in addition to core publishing offerings such as typesetting and content management,” he said. As a result, deal sizes have undergone a change. “Earlier, they would give us orders for one book and after we delivered that the next one would follow. Now orders are in terms of 100-200 books at a time,” he said. The average size of an e-publishing contract is $3,000- $5,000 per book.

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